


SWRC: Gaining Trust (Book 1).

by Neeran_C_Zaneshi



Series: Star Wars Rebellion Chronicles (SWRC) [1]
Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Rebels
Genre: Adopted Children, Children, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jedi, Neeran, SWRC, School, Slavery, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Rebellion Chronicles, Star Wars rebels - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 30,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neeran_C_Zaneshi/pseuds/Neeran_C_Zaneshi
Summary: Neeran has been on the run for most of her life.And Order 66 has only made it worse.After rescuing Ezra from slavery on Jex, Neeran has bought herself into something that will change the course of the history in the galaxy.But will she be ready to admit who, or what, she really is?And if so, what will it have in store for everyone around her?Is the risk really worth taking?
Relationships: Neeran/Zach
Series: Star Wars Rebellion Chronicles (SWRC) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1609168
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a republication of my series on Wattpad!  
> I am the original author and this is not stolen!  
> Thank you for reading it both here and there if you have, but if not, welcome and enjoy.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway as a roughly twenty-five year old man walked down descending steps and into a many roomed cellar. 

The man had short black hair pulled back into a ponytail, a black goatee and stormy green eyes with grey flecks in them. He wore a dirty brown and yellow shirt, filthy once storm blue pants, dusty boots, black fingerless gloves and a bedraggled dark brown coat. 

On his belt, which was hidden by his coat, the man also had a lava-like whip which was used to beat unruly and misbehaving slaves.

Similar to the one he was visiting now, only this one didn't know it was misbehaving most of the time.

And this ones 'problems' were moderately easy to solve.

The man had reached the door in the cellar he'd been looking for with a sign marked in black ink that hadn't dried properly the first time above the door:  
Solitary Confinement.

Pulling out a set of keys from within his coat, the man sifted through them until he found the right one. The man shoved the key into the lock and turned the key. The lock clicked and the man pulled the door open to look inside the tiny bare room.

On the far side of the small room, barely two metres away, curled up against the corner of one of the walls on the far right hand side, was a small and panicky four-year-old boy.

The boy had raven black, matted hair, with a few loose strands flopping down in front of his face, electric blue eyes and a tan complexion. He wore a brown and dull yellow short-sleeved vest over a black singlet, long orange and brown pants that cut off mid-way down his shins and loose bandage wrappings on his feet and hands. 

On his left wrist was a small silver coloured bracelet that monitored his vitals and gave him an electric shock if he used his powers. On both his wrists and ankles he wore manacles that were tied together by an unbreakable electric current. Clutched against his chest was a bundle of rags. 

In truth, the 'rags' were actually small blankets that had a line of silk on them and were called 'Kyipi's' by the boy, but they had been loved so much by the boy that one of the four blankets was just a line of silk with its blanket part separated and two others had great big holes under the line of silk. Only one of the four remained intact though holes had begun to form on it.

The man walked up to the boy and stared down at him. The boy tried to shuffle further back into the corner and timidly whispered, "W-What are y-you going to d-d-do to m-m-me?"

The man didn't answer and instead, he placed his left hand into his coat and withdrew a needle.

The boy shuddered and tensed up his neck muscles, as if expecting the needle to appear behind him, and whispered sacredly, "N-No! Please. N-N-Not that again!"

The man knelt down beside the boy grabbed his hair roughly and pulled his head down into the blankets he clutched to expose his scab-riddled neck.

"Please," whimpered the boy, as a strangled crying sound escaped his throat with it muffled slightly by the blankets he was clutching. "Not again."

The man smiled at the boys scared plea, but ignored it and inserted the needle into the boys neck. The boy exclaimed at the initial pain of the needle before slipping into unconsciousness.

The man stood and looked at the unconscious boy in front of him as the boy slipped down the corner of the wall and onto the floor in a foetal position, still clutching the blankets. 

Seeing the boy was subdued of his powers and most probably couldn't hear him, the man hissed in a menacing fashion,   
"Sleep well, Boy. Soon you will be gone from this home and with a new master, who may not be as lenient as us."

With that said, the man turned and left the tiny cell.

"Help me," said the boy so quietly that no one could hear him. "Anybody."


	2. A Teenage Girl and The Small Boy.

"Aw crap," groaned a teenage looking girl by the name of Neeran, scratching her multi-coloured hair. "Where am I going now?"

To most people, she would have seemed strange or intimidating. 

She looked humanoid with wild, multi-coloured, spiky hair that had a pair of googles nestled in it and a long thin plait over her right shoulder that reached just past her collarbone, which contained the colours red, orange, yellow, white, black, blue, auburn, silver, green, grey, purple and slight tinges of pink. 

She had three scars on either side of her face, that looked like whiskers, red eye-liner that stretched from just above her eye closest to the nose to the furthest edge of the eyebrow and back down to the other corner of her eye to the corner, multi-coloured eyes which looked like her hair, and a yellow line that spanned from one side of her face to the other, just under her eyes. 

She wore an orange singlet with a hoodie sewn on, black and white flight suit pants, brown and orange boots, a purple bandana concealing an onyx gemstone necklace, a brown and yellow short-sleeved vest, arm guards, red fingerless gloves with two gold coloured ring on her right ring finger and a silver one on her left, a silver watch resting between her left glove and arm guard, a blue trimmed Kama blaster guard with the blasters in the holsters, dark green knee pads and part of a mysterious tattoo on her right shoulder that poked out from under her right vest sleeve.

But perhaps the strangest thing about her was she wasn't actually a human. 

Her burn-striped pointed elf-ears, pointed finger nails, burn-marks on her upper arms and a burn-striped triangular tail with a large amount of matted fur just above the triangle made that all too clear. 

And no one even knew what her species was or where they hailed from. 

As Neeran looked around at the surrounding vendors to find where she was, she noticed a slave auction commencing and, whilst lurching violently, groaned to herself, "I'm gonna be sick."

Suddenly, a nagging feeling caused her to look behind her and she noticed a squad of storm troopers lead by a tall white Pau'un with red markings on his face walking down the street.

"Only, they'll make me sicker," muttered Neeran raising her orange hood over her head and melted into the slave auctioning crowd as to not draw attention to herself. The feeling of watching people selling others lives was almost unbearable for Neeran, who was looking for a way to leave that horrid place.

Suddenly, the master of ceremony caught her attention.  
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the black haired man with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, charismatically.  
"May I present the final slave for auction."

The man gestured to the stage as a four-year-old looking boy was shoved forward. 

The boy had raven black, matted hair, with a few loose strands flopping down in front of his face, electric blue eyes and a tan complexion. He wore a brown and dull yellow short-sleeved vest over a black singlet, long orange and brown pants that cut off mid-way down his shins and loose bandage wrappings on his bare feet and hands. 

On his left wrist was a small silver coloured bracelet that looked like it monitored his vitals. On both his wrists and ankles, he wore manacles that were tied together by an unbreakable electric current. Clutched against his chest was what looked like a bundle of rags.

Something sparked in Neeran as she looked at the boy.

She seemed to know this little boy was special and that she had to free him.

Somehow.

Neeran's eyes connected with the boys electric sapphire blue eyes and everything seemed to fade away into a dull murmur around her. Neeran broke eye contact from the boy and the voices all came back to her. Many were saying no to getting the boy and shaking their heads.

"No one?" asked the black haired guy, raising an eyebrow.

Before Neeran knew what she was doing, she'd thrown back her hood, raised her hand in the air and was saying, "I'll take him."

The boy looked at the teenage girl who'd said she'd take him. She didn't really look like a slaver, but she did look intimidating with her multi-coloured hair and eyes and all the other bizarre features of hers.

The man beside him chuckled and asked, "Why would you want him when everyone else seems to have refused?"

"And why do you care?" replied the teenage girl. 

She seemed quick tempered.

The boy knew that if he'd ever said that, the man beside him would have beaten him severely. Instead, he just smiled his wickedly convincing grin and said, "In that case, he's yours. See me after to collect him."

Unnoticed by everyone else, the boy saw the teenage girl bite back a retort and glare at him with an intent to kill him.

The black-haired man turned to the audience and said, "And that concludes our auction. I bid thee good day."

With that he bowed and walked out the back of the stage, grabbing the boy as he went.

Neeran watched as the man pulled the poor boy off the stage. Growling an inhuman growl, Neeran stalked off to the area behind the stage to collect the boy. 

She couldn't believe at what she'd just done.

She had just brought someone's life.

Neeran felt so wrong and confused as she reached the back area. Standing in the middle of the area was the man and he was talking to the boy. Neeran was too far away to hear what they were saying but then again, she didn't really want to know.

"Ah, my friend," said the man spotting Neeran approaching them.

Neeran stopped several paces away from the man and folded her arms. 

She didn't trust him.

"There's something I wish to discuss with you privately, away from the boy," the man said, spitting out the last word like venom. Neeran saw the boy wince but say nothing at the remark. His mouth was buried in the ragged blankets.

The man walked up to Neeran and lead her a short distance away from the boy.

The man sighed, turned to Neeran and said, "The reason many didn't accept him is he's been on auction before and has acted bizarrely."

Neeran raised an eyebrow and asked, "In what way strange?"

"We aren't quite sure what, but this inhibits him from acting bizarre," replied the man, handing Neeran a syringe with a clear water-like liquid in it.

Neeran looked at the syringe as the man continued,  
"Keep it handy, if you still want him."

Neeran nodded and put the syringe inside her vest. The man held out his hand and Meeran gave him the credits before he took them and walked back towards the boy with Neeran following.

The boy was crouching down above the dirt and drawing with his finger. To many it looked like simple squiggles and lines, but to Neeran it looked different somehow.

"Boy!" shouted the man as he approached him. Startled, the boy jumped up from the picture on the ground and bowed his head saying, "Sorry, master."

"You'd better be," snarled the man and the boy cringed in fear of being hit. "Now get outta here."

With that the man shoved the boy in the direction of Neeran, and he stumbled beginning to fall. Without thinking, Neeran thrusted her hand forward and caught the boy before he fell flat on his face. The boy had scrunched his eyes closed and wait for the impact of the ground. 

Opening his eyes slightly, the boy looked up and saw the person, who was his master, had stopped his fall. The boy blinked and continued to stare.

"What is it?" asked Neeran.  
"N-Nothing, Master," replied the boy, looking down for a moment then back up at her eyes.

Neeran wanted to tell him not to call her that so badly, but that would make getting out of there harder. Standing the boy up on his own two feet, Neeran turned and began to walk away, the boy following.

Neeran glanced back and nodded, much to the delight of the boy, and telepathically said to her friend, 'Hey Zach, I'm bring another kid and I need you to stay out of sight, 'kay?'  
'Consider it done.'


	3. Hope.

After what seemed like forever, Neeran finally found her VCX-100 Light Freighter called the Spectre.

"Well that took long enough," said Neeran, finally spotting her ship. "Last time I go somewhere and forget where I parked my ship."

Suddenly, an astromech droid rolled down the ramp and the boy scurried behind Neeran to get away from it. 

The droid said something in binary and Neeran replied, "Ah shit, I did too. Okay this time I mean it: I won't forget where I parked my ship next time."

The droid said something else and Neeran shouted in reply, "What do you mean I've got a lousy sense of direction unless he's around, Comm?!"

Behind her, the boy whimpered slightly at the sight of the droid and Neeran's shouting.

"Ah, crap I did it again," muttered Neeran, as she turned around to the boy and knelt down to his eye height.   
"Sorry I shouted, I was just upset with Comm here," said Neeran, gesturing to the astromech.   
Comm rolled up and beeped he was sorry. The boy took a step back from Comm but had calmed a little.

"Come on then," continued Neeran standing up and walking towards the ramp. "Let's get those manacles off you, shall we?"

"Wait," whispered the boy.  
"Yes?" asked Neeran, turning to the boy.  
"Why are you doing this to me?" asked the boy in a hushed tone.

Neeran halted and looked at the scared boy. Leaving the ramp entrance, Neeran walked over to the boy, knelt down to his height and placed her hands on his shoulders. The boy flinched, as if expecting to be hit. 

Inwardly, Neeran sighed. The boy had been through so much in his short life.  
"Because no one deserves to be owned by someone or to wear the shackles you have."

The boy eyes lit up in the evening sun and the thought of freedom.

Neeran smiled and stood up. The boy would take a long time to heal from his traumatic early life, but Neeran decided then and there she would stay and care for him during his healing process.   
Holding out her hand, Neeran smiled warmly and asked, "You coming?"

The boy nodded and grabbed her outstretched hand, as if never wanting to let it go.


	4. Free.

Neeran led the boy to the Med-bay on board her ship. The boy never let go of her hand the whole time. When they reached the Med-bay, Neeran said, “Okay, you can go jump up on that bed over there."

The boy looked at the bed and then nodded to Neeran. He ran over and climbed up onto the bed, while Neeran withdrew the syringe she'd been given. 

Suspecting the boy may be afraid of whatever was in the syringe, Neeran concealed it from him and placed it on the furthest bench away from the bed. 

Walking over to the boy Neeran asked, "You know, you never told me your name kid, so what is it?"  
The boy gave her a stunned look.  
"N-No one's ever asked me that before," replied the boy, sheepishly running his fingers across the ribbon on the blankets and looking at the floor.

"Well, let me be the first," replied Neeran, taking a seat beside the bed, grabbing a tool sitting on the bench and working on the manacle locks.

The boy was silent as Neeran worked the locks. After removing the manacles on his wrists, the boy said quietly, "My name is Ezra."

Neeran stopped working on the locks for a moment as she listened to the boy named Ezra. After a moment's hesitation, Neeran went back to the locks. The locks finally clicked and Neeran picked up the manacles, stood up and put them in a nearby cupboard.

"What's your name?" asked Ezra from the bed.

Neeran halted for a moment, Ezra's voice causing Neeran to feel as though he should know her real name.

Walking back, Neeran sat down beside the bed, looked at Ezra and said,"I've been called and known by many names, but no one's asked me my true name in a long time either. My real name is Neeran, Ezra." 

Ezra seemed a bit taken aback by Neeran's reply, probably because he'd expected a different answer.

"What do I call you then?" asked Ezra.  
"Just Neeran," replied Neeran. "Unless told otherwise."

Neeran picked up Ezra's left wrist and looked at the only remaining device on him.

"What's this?" asked Neeran, looking at the device all over.  
"I-I don't know," replied Ezra. "But it hurts me."  
"How?" asked Neeran, attempting to deactivate the device.  
"Ow!" exclaimed Neeran and Ezra together, as the device electrocuted them. 

Realising they'd both exclaimed, Neeran and Ezra turned to each other. Then Neeran smiled and tried again.  
"Shit," cursed Neeran under her breath as she and Ezra were shocked for the second time.   
"And that bastard didn't even give me the fricking deactivation code."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Neeran about how she could get it off.  
"Can you keep a secret?"

Ezra nodded nervously.  
"Good," replied Neeran, setting Ezra's hand back down on the bed and moving to leave. "I'll be right back then."

With that, Neeran left the room.

Ezra stared around the Med-bay. Neeran seemed trustworthy enough. Ezra picked up kyipi and placed it on his lap and started running his fingers along the silk and making the sound that always comforted him, but to everyone else it sounded like it was someone walking the mud. 

He felt better now that Neeran had removed his shackles and when he felt good or nervous he'd make his special sound. 

Whilst Ezra was distracted, Neeran had left the Med-bay and returned to her room. Walking over to her bed, Neeran opened the draws beneath the bed and removed a weapon she'd refused to wield for almost four years. 

Her Lightsaber.

Sighing, Neeran attached the Lightsaber to her belt and walked back to the Med-bay. When she arrived, Neeran noticed Ezra was running his fingers along the silk on his blankets and making a strange sound that bizarrely comforted her. 

"Where did you learn to do that?" asked Neeran.

Ezra jumped and scurried into the back corner of the bed.

"Sorry," said Neeran, walking into the room.  
"I'm sorry too," replied Ezra.  
"Why?" asked Neeran approaching the bed.

"I don't know where I learned how to make that sound either," replied Ezra avoiding her eyes.

"It's okay, I've just heard it somewhere before," replied Neeran. "Can you hold out your wrist?"

Ezra nodded and held out his left wrist. Neeran brought her Lightsaber hilt up and said, "What I'm about to show up doesn't leave this ship, got it?"

Ezra nodded and watched Neeran. Neeran steadied herself and activated the Lightsaber. The familiar hum and glow of the Lightsaber radiated around the room. The blade of the Lightsaber was like Neeran's hair, wild and multiple colours, exactly like her hair. 

Neeran lowered the Lightsaber and sliced through the metal electrocuting bracelet. The bracelet fell to the ground and Neeran withdrew the Lightsaber away from Ezra and deactivated it.

"What are you?" asked Ezra, seemingly awestruck.  
Neeran sighed and said, "I don't feel like you should know just yet. All I'll tell you is I'm a Jedi named Neeran."

Ezra looked like he wanted to ask more but Neeran stopped him by asking,   
"Are you hungry?"

Before Ezra could reply, his stomach made a very obvious rumble which Ezra tried to conceal. Neeran chuckled and said, "Come on, I'll make some food."

Ezra jumped off the bed, grabbed his blankets and followed Neeran down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Let's see," said Neeran looking around. "What have I got in the food department?"  
Neeran rummaged around for a few minutes until she found something.  
"Ah ha!"

Pulling out a bowl of fruit, Neeran offered the bowl to Ezra.  
"Here Ezra, you get first pick."

Ezra hesitated but then hunger overwhelmed him and he took the first fruit he touched. A jogen. Neeran grabbed a nectarine and walked over to the table with Ezra following her. Placing the bowl on the table, Neeran circled around and sat down on the couch. Ezra followed her example hesitantly.

"What do you call your blankets?" asked Neeran, eating the fruit slowly.  
Ezra stopped before muttering, "They're all called kyipi."  
"Kyipi?" asked Neeran. "Interesting."  
They finished their fruits in silence after that. 

Hoping to break the silence, Neeran went to ask something else when Comm came in beeping hysterically.  
"What?!" exclaimed Neeran when Comm paused. "Right now?!"

Comm beeped in reply.  
"Oh, shit," muttered Neeran, who got up and moved towards the cargo hold entrance.

"What's wrong?" asked Ezra, slightly nervous.  
"Couple of acquaintances of mine decided to show up," replied Neeran stopping for a minute. "And that's never good."


	5. Confrontation.

Neeran remembered she still had her Lightsaber on and that she couldn't leave Ezra alone while she talked to them.

"Ezra, you need to come with me," said Neeran as she headed to her room. Ezra jumped up and followed. Neeran entered her room and put her Lightsaber back in its draw.

"Why do I need to go with you?" asked Ezra from the door.  
"One of my acquaintances is force-sensitive and very cunning, who knows what he and his buddies want," replied Neeran, heading to the cockpit.

"Comm, I need you on standby to take off," said Neeran as she walked over to a descending ladder and began to go down. Comm beeped his affirmation as Ezra followed.

"Ezra," whispered Neeran as Ezra reached the cargo hold floor behind her. "Stay behind me at all times, got it?"

Ezra nodded and half-hid behind Neeran. Neeran smiled comfortingly to him and he half-heartedly smiled back. Neeran walked up to the ramp and descended halfway down the ramp.

"What do you want now, Kane?" shouted Neeran.  
"It's a simple matter, Najji," replied the twenty-fiveish year old man named Kane with his dark brown almost black hair pulled back in a ponytail.   
"You owe us."

"I don't owe you anything," replied Neeran. "Not after that fancy stunt you pulled back on Nal Hutta."  
"A simple misunderstanding," replied Kane waving the matter aside. 

"Was it really?" asked Neeran, folding her arms and glaring at Kane. Kane ignored Neeran's question and said, "What happened there doesn't matter anymore, however, you still need to pay me and my buddies here for that incomplete shipment."

Neeran continued to glare at him as he smiled devilishly and said, "So, what do you have to pay up with?"  
"You charismatic bastard," cursed Neeran under her breath. "I've got nothing you'll find worthy on board, so scram."

"Ahh, but you do have something of my worth," said Kane.   
"If you're talking about Comm, you can forget it," replied Neeran. "He's not for sale."

Behind her, Ezra moved closer behind and clung with one hand to her pants leg. Neeran turned to him for a second and realised what Kane was referring to as he said, "I'll never bother you again, if you give me the boy."

Ezra looked up at Neeran, fear portrayed in his eyes. Neeran quickly turned away from Ezra, so he couldn't see her eyes. 

But Kane and his gang could.  
And Neeran could tell most of them were afraid.  
Neeran's eyes had become cat-slits and her body seemed to radiate an invisible energy force.

"No-one," said Neeran, her voice dangerously low. "I repeat, no one, is buying my crew mates, got it?"

All of Kane's buddies backed up slightly before running away as Neeran's hair ruffled in a non-existent evening breeze. 

But Kane just stood his ground.

"So it's true," said Kane. "You really are a Jedi. Such an uncommon find."  
"You're an Inquisitor," replied Neeran.  
"Very clever," replied 'Kane'.

"And the others?" asked Neeran.  
"Just meaningless people," replied 'Kane'. "You were the real prize, as is now the boy."

Behind her, Neeran felt Ezra wince at the word 'boy'. 

"Why do you want Caleb?" asked Neeran, standing her ground.

"I do not want him, but my master does," replied 'Kane'.  
Ezra moved even closer to Neeran at the mention of 'Master'.

"You think I'd go with you?" asked Neeran, keeping Ezra behind her. "Or let you take Caleb?"  
"No, not willingly," replied 'Kane'. "But there are ways to make you. And the boy."

As 'Kane' spoke, he reached inside his coat and pulled out a Lightsaber hilt.

"Shit," cursed Neeran at the sight of the Lightsaber.  
'Kane' smiled and ignited the red Lightsaber. Neeran held her left arm out and reached for her right blaster with the other hand.  
"Do you really think that could stop me?" asked 'Kane' walking towards them.  
"Worth a try," replied Neeran. Ezra was terrified at the sight of them about to fight.

"Ezra," whispered Neeran, so only Ezra could hear. "Go to my room and get my Lightsaber, please?"

Ezra stared at her for a moment, before nodding and running into the ship. Neeran looked back at the approaching figure and drew her other gun.

"Delaying the inevitable won't help," said 'Kane', stopping and raising his Lightsaber whilst lowering into a stance and launching at Neeran,   
Neeran jumped off the ramp and tumbled to the side. 

Whirling around, Neeran fired several blasts at 'Kane', all of which he deflected. 'Kane' smirked at Neeran's feeble attempt to defeat him, and charged at Neeran. Neeran moved out of the way, getting behind 'Kane' and firing again at him. 'Kane' dodged to the left and deflected some of the blaster bolts back at Neeran.

Neeran turned to the side to avoid them and returned fire. 'Kane' deflected them and Force-Pushed Neeran into a nearby wall.

"Ow," groaned Neeran, standing up and aiming at 'Kane'. 'Kane' pulled the blasters out of Neeran's hands and flung them out of reach. Neeran raised her fists, prepared to use her fists to defend her crew.

'Kane' smirked and pushed Neeran back onto the wall and held her there with the Force.  
"Crap," groaned Neeran, unable to move most of her limbs.

"Your efforts to defend your friends will be acknowledged," said 'Kane'. "But they won't get you far."  
"You asshole," swore Neeran. "Your the slave auctioneer, aren't you?"  
"You're slowing Neeran," stated 'Kane'.   
"Old age made you forget?"

"Master!" exclaimed someone from the ship.  
'Shit!' thought Neeran, looking over at her ship and seeing Ezra clutching her Lightsaber and Kyipi. "Ezra, run! Tell Comm to take off!"

"But-"

"Go!" shouted Neeran, cutting Ezra off.  
"So his name wasn't 'Caleb'?" asked 'Kane', flinging Ezra back into the ship where he collided with a wall and slipped into unconsciousness. "Such a pity that I already knew you were lying."

Neeran gasped but didn't answer, and instead she growled inhumanly at 'Kane'.

Suddenly, she was able to move. 

She threw out her hand and summoned her Lightsaber from Ezra's limp hand. The Lightsaber flew out of Ezra's hand and into Neeran's, where she activated it and attacked 'Kane'. 

The lightsabers sparked as they collided, with Neeran's striking and injuring 'Kane's' sword fighting arm. Switching arms, 'Kane' continued to defend against Neeran's onslaughts.

After a few more traded strokes, Neeran disabled 'Kane' of his Lightsaber and thrust hers through his heart, where he died instantly. Neeran deactivated her Lightsaber and then staggered backwards, clutching her head.

"Uh," groaned Neeran as her vision cleared. Once her vision cleared, Neeran gasped,  
"Oh, oh no."  
Neeran looked at the lifeless form of the Inquistor 'Kane'.  
"Not again." 

Neeran spun on her heels and called for her blasters. They zoomed through the air, where Neeran caught them and put them in their holsters. With her blasters returned, Neeran ran to the ship, leaving 'Kane' behind her. 

Upon reaching the ship, Neeran shouted,  
"Comm, take off. We can't come here for a long time."  
Neeran then turned to Ezra and picked him up. He stirred in her arms but didn't awaken.

"It's okay, Ezra," said Neeran, more to comfort herself than Ezra. "You're safe with me now."

Ezra seemed to snuggle closer to Neeran and stayed unconscious. Neeran smiled and carried the unconscious Ezra to the Med-bay, where she placed him on the bed. 

Pulling up the blanket, Neeran tucked Ezra in and walked over to the other side of the room. There, Neeran found a needle and walked back over to the bed. Injecting the needle into Ezra's upper arm, Neeran withdrew a sample of his blood and placed a bandaid on the needle pin prick. 

Neeran stroked Ezra's hair to keep him calm. Ezra calmed and slipped into a deeper sleep. Neeran smiled a motherly kind of smile and walked over to the bench she'd placed the other needle she'd been given that day. 

Neeran examined Ezra's blood sample to see if he'd been poisoned by anything. The results came back negative.

"Interesting," said Neeran, suddenly noticing something that apparently wasn't a sort of poison. "What's this?"

Neeran left Ezra's blood sample and quickly glanced at the other needle and examined its contents.

"The same as the mystery chemical in his blood stream," said Neeran. "But what is it?"

Neeran compared the samples to each other for a few minutes before groaning and resting her head on the bench.  
"I haven't got a fricking clue what the hell that stuff is."

Sighing, Neeran hung her head and stood up, walking to her room. 

Reaching her room, Neeran opened the door and plodded over to the bed. Grabbing a small device sitting on the bed, Neeran walked back out of the room and said, "I'll be in the Med-bay sleeping, if you're looking for me Comm."

Comm beeped a reply.  
"I don't know where I'll sleep with Ezra there, but I'll be there."

Comm beeped something else.

"Shut it," groaned Neeran, placing a set of headphones over her ears. Bringing the iPod up, Neeran turned it on and pressed play. The first song, Mononoke Hime: The Legend of Ashitaka, came on and Neeran sat at the bench with the strange chemical. 

Placing her head on her crossed arms on the bench, Neeran began to dose off and eventually, at Journey to the West, was fast asleep.


	6. Awake.

When Ezra awoke, he wasn't in the ships hull but was in the bed where Neeran had removed his shackles. 

Ezra sat up and looked around the room. 

The first thing he noticed was Neeran on the far side of the room with her head in her arms and sleeping soundly. 

Ezra slipped off the side of the bed and wandered over to Neeran. 

Reaching up, Ezra shook Neeran's arm to wake her up.

That was his first mistake.


	7. Assailant.

Neeran felt someone or something shake her arm and she reacted on past instincts.   
Exclaiming, Neeran jumped up and drew her gun, pointing the barrel at her assailant.

At Ezra.

Ezra screamed and ducked down onto the ground, clutching his head and squeezing his eyes shut whilst shouting, "I'm sorry, miss, please don't shoot me! I didn't mean to scare you! Please don't shoot me!"  
"Ezra?!" exclaimed Neeran, removing the headphones from her ears and placing them around her neck. Ezra seemed to curl up a little more.  
"I'm sorry! I'll take any punishment but please, don't kill me, miss!"  
Neeran lowered the gun and said, "Ezra, I'm not gonna hurt you."  
Ezra opened his teary eyes slightly and looked up at Neeran.  
"P-promise?"  
"I promise," replied Neeran, holstering the gun for good measure. Ezra hesitantly stood up and looked at Neeran. 

Neeran crouched down to his height and said, "Sorry for scaring you Ezra, I was just reacting on things that have happened to me before."  
Ezra didn't reply, he was too scared to say anything.  
"Ahh," sighed Neeran, turning back to the chemicals on the bench. "I'm not good at gaining people's trust, am I?"  
"Trust?" asked Ezra, cocking his head to one side.  
Neeran looked at Ezra before saying, "Trust is where you're willing to let people know personal things about yourself, like when I told you I was a Jedi."  
"Oh," replied Ezra.

Neeran had turned back to the chemicals and groaned, "What the hell is this stuff?!"  
Neeran picked up the syringe with the chemical to take a closer look at it, and Ezra gasped and walked backwards, tripping over his feet and continuing to crawl backwards, where he ran into a wall and reached up and clasped a hand around his neck.

"No, no please. Keep it away from me," whispered Ezra in a hushed tone.  
"Wha-Oh crap," said Neeran quickly replacing the chemical back on the desk away from Ezra's view, but it was too late. 

Ezra had seen it. And he was terrified.

'Shit,' thought Neeran. 'This ain't gonna go well.'  
"Ezra, it's okay," said Neeran, getting up and walking over to him.  
"Stay away!" exclaimed Ezra, closing his eyes and curling up in a ball again.  
Suddenly, several objects in the room began to float in the air. Neeran stopped at looked around.

"So that's what the stuff is," said Neeran quietly, looking back at Ezra.   
"They're Force-inhibitors, so he must be Force-sensitive."  
Ducking one of the floating objects, Neeran walked close to Ezra, who said, "Stay back!"  
Neeran stopped walking and crouched down to his height.  
"Go away," muttered Ezra.

Neeran ignored him and pulled him in for a hug. Ezra gasped, his eyes opening and he tried to wriggle out, but Neeran held him tight.  
"I'm sorry, Ezra," said Neeran.  
Ezra stopped struggling. Things Ezra had absent-mindedly lifted with the Force lowered themselves back down so they were resting on one of the benches or tables. 

"Ezra," whispered Neeran after a while, holding Ezra at arms length. "The reason you were given that stuff is because you're Force-sensitive."  
"Force-sensitive?" asked Ezra, looking into Neeran's eyes.   
"It's a special quality possessed by all the Jedi," replied Neeran. "And yours is quiet strong."

Ezra eyes seemed to light up at the idea of being strong.

"Almost as strong as my Padawans," continued Neeran.  
"Padawans?" asked Ezra.  
"Okay, well I've only technical got one Padawan, but he's an unofficial made Jedi Knight by me," replied Neeran. "And he's taken on a Padawan, a girl named Nadia, but to hide from the Empire and the Underworld, she's known as Jexxel."  
"Can we met them?" asked Ezra, seemingly excited.

"Yeah," replied Neeran. "In fact, that's where we're going next, after one more stop."  
Neeran stood up and walked to the cockpit, Ezra followed eagerly and asking, "Where are we stopping?"

"We're going to Gorse," replied Neeran.  
"Why?" asked Ezra.  
"To say hello to a friend," replied Neeran, seemingly in a dreamy distant.  
The door to the cockpit slide open with a hiss and Neeran walked up to the control panel and sat down.

"Comm, we're going to Gorse," said Neeran, entering hyperspace co-ordinates.  
Ezra jumped up into the co-pilots seat and looked out of the view screen. He gaped and stared at the expanse of space. Neeran smirked as the view screen change to millions of stars and they were off to Gorse.


	8. An Old Friend.

"Where are we going?" asked Ezra, clinging close to Neeran at the strange sights and sounds of the eternally dark mining world. "To a graveyard not too far from here," replied Neeran, looking around cautiously. Ezra didn't say anything in reply to that. He was puzzled. Neeran seemed to be happy, but they were going to a graveyard. To him, it didn't make any sense. Shortly afterwards, Neeran turned into a smaller fenced off area and looked at the two trees standing there. "Ah nuts," groaned Neeran. "Which one is it?" "Which one's what?" asked Ezra. Neeran didn't reply, instead she walked up to the closest tree and knocked on it. After a moment, Neeran sighed, "Well, it's not that one." Neeran the moved over to the other tree and knocked on it, while Ezra asked hesitantly, "Neeran, are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine, why do you ask?" replied Neeran, tapping on the tree again. Ezra was about to reply, when the tree began to contort and shrink until it resembled a human like form. Ezra jumped back and cowered behind a tombstone placed in the garden like area. Neeran just looked at the twenty looking year old and said, "Hey there. Long time, no see." "What are you talking about?" replied the man, stretching his arms out. "It was like four minutes." "Actually, it was four years," replied Neeran. "Jeez, sleep really is a time portal," replied the man. "So how's your life been?" "Well, when I left you here, I met up with my Padawan Shakkuri and adopted three kids, no wait four now," started Neeran, remembering some important details. Suddenly, Neeran clicked her fingers and looked over at the tombstone Ezra was hiding behind. "This one's the fourth," said Neeran walking over to Ezra, who cowered further behind the tombstone. "Are they all that skittish?" asked the tree man. "Yeah, pretty much," called Neeran over her shoulder. "At least initially." Neeran crouched down in front of Ezra and told him, "It's okay Ezra, this man's a friend." Ezra nodded slowly as he crept out from behind the tombstone and hid behind Neeran, peeking around at the tree man. Neeran picked Ezra up and brought him over to the man. Ezra hid his face in Neeran's neck as they got closer to the strange man. "It's okay Ezra," repeated Neeran, in a motherly sort of tone stroking his hair. "This man is an very old friend of mine. He's saved my life a few times." Ezra moved so he could look at the man with one eye before hiding back in Neeran's neck. "Where the hell did you find someone that skittish?" asked the man. "Just talented that way," replied Neeran, shrugging. "He was a slave on Jex. I brought him and freed him. I'm taking him to my home on Lothal next." "You know that was against the Jedi Code right?" asked the man, rubbing his temple. "Yeah, I know it was, but I couldn't just leave him either," replied Neeran. "He sparked something within me I haven't felt in what feels like eons. Hope." "You don't, by an chance, mean that this boy-" started the man. Neeran death stared him as Ezra winced on her shoulder. "He is not just a boy," said Neeran, her hair ruffling slightly. "He's Ezra, my second adopted son. And he is Force sensitive." Neeran could feel Ezra seemingly stop at the mention of being Neeran's adopted son. "Alright fine," said the man giving up with the fight. "What do you want?" "Just to say hi," replied Neeran, a little anger still left in her voice. "Well now that that's done, are you leaving again?" asked the man walking back to the place where he'd become a man. "Yes we are," replied Neeran, watching the man turn back into a tree. "Jax." "Ha," exclaimed the man named Jax. "You remembered." "Shut it," replied Neeran smirking.


	9. A Little Girl.

"That man was scary," said Ezra, clinging closer to Neeran at the thought of him.  
"Yeah, that was my first reaction to," replied Neeran placing a hand on his right shoulder. "I tried to shoot him as well. Nearly did."

Suddenly, Neeran's ears twitched at an almost inaudible sound that came from down a nearby alley. Turning, Neeran looked into the dark abyss of alley. 

It would be a good place for an ambush. But Neeran couldn't ignore the sound. 

Neeran slowly crept into the dark alley and Ezra followed. Once Neeran was about halfway down the alley, she and Ezra both heard the sound.

The sound of an infant crying.

"Thought so," said Neeran as she walked to the sound. When she got there, Neeran saw a small bundle of cloth wrapped around a year and ten month old infant. Beside the infant, was a long gone woman, who Neeran assumed was the little child's mother.

"What happened to her?" asked Ezra, slightly shaken.

Neeran crouched down beside the infant and its mother and picked the infant up. The infant gurgled and giggled at being noticed by someone. Neeran pulled the child close to her and rested her on her shoulder.

"I don't know, Ezra," replied Neeran holding the infant securely.  
"What are we going to do with her?" asked Ezra, seemingly a little afraid of what might happen to her.

"We'll look after her, as one of our own," replied Neeran showing the child to Ezra.   
Ezra looked at the giggling infant and couldn't help but smile, and neither could Neeran.

"Come on," said Neeran, still smiling as she raised the child back up to her shoulder and took hold of Ezra's outstretched hand. "We'd better head back to the ship."  
Ezra nodded and followed along with her, a little skip on his step.


	10. Going Home.

"What should we name her?" asked Neeran, closing the ramp once they'd entered the ship. Ezra turned and gave her a quizzical look. Neeran walked over to the stairs that led to the common room with Ezra following.

"She needs a name 'cause we can't keep calling her 'girl' or 'infant' all the time," continued Neeran. "That wouldn't seem right and would make me feel like a slaver."

Neeran turned into the Med-bay and placed the now sleeping child on the bed. Neeran pulled up the blanket and tucked the little girl in.  
"What do you want to call her?" asked Ezra, walking up to the bed and watching the infant.  
"I think you should name her, Ezra," replied Neeran.

Ezra seemed surprised at that idea. Neeran walked over to the door and said, "I'll give you time to think of a name. I'm going to set a course to Lothal."  
With that said, Neeran left for the cockpit. Ezra turned back to the little girl sleeping on the bed.  
"What should I call you?" wondered Ezra aloud as he watched the little girl.

Neeran entered the cockpit and said to Comm, "Hey Comm, prime the engines, we're going home."  
Neeran took her seat as Comm asked her something in his language.  
"Yep, it's that one alright," replied Neeran finishing the hyperspace co-ordinates.

The stars streaked in front of the window and the Specter was off to Lothal.


	11. Lothal.

Neeran had left Ezra alone with the little girl for a little while now, giving him time to think of a name for her.

"Well, guess it's about time I checked on them," said Neeran, standing up from her seat and walking out of the cockpit. When Neeran reached the Med-bay door, she heard a muffled crying sound on the other side. Neeran opened the door quickly and drew a blaster, prepared for any danger.

What she saw was different.

Ezra was huddled in a corner shielding something from her view and whimpering slightly whilst trembling like a leaf.

"Ezra!" exclaimed Neeran, holstering the blaster and hurrying over to him.  
"Stay away!" replied Ezra, clutching the something tighter.  
"Ezra, it's okay. It's me, Neeran," said Neeran almost reaching him. "You're safe here."  
"Stay back!" replied Ezra.  
"Ezra, everything's fine," said Neeran, pulling Ezra in for a hug.

At first, Ezra froze. Then he seemed to remember where he was and what was happening.  
"Mum," Ezra replied absent-mindedly, returning Neeran's hug. Neeran was shocked for a few moments but didn't let go of Ezra. She could hear Ezra crying softly.

"Why are you crying?" asked Neeran.  
"You saved my life and cared for me," replied Ezra still sobbing into Neeran's shirt. "All I do to repay you is scare you and do nothing!"

"Ezra you don't need to repay me," replied Neeran.  
"But I do!" exclaimed Ezra. "That's what I was taught to do."  
"By who?" asked Neeran, concerned for the answer.  
"By that man with the black hair," replied Ezra, quivering at the mention of him.  
Neeran froze for a second, before asking, "When he taught you this, what did he say?"

Ezra gulped and said, "He said, 'No matter what they do to you, you must always thank them and repay them anyway you can....' "  
Ezra hesitated.  
"Go on," said Neeran.  
"Then he called me 'you miserable, good-for-nothing slave,' " continued Ezra, crying a little harder.

"Is that what he was telling you when I came to that area behind the stage?" asked Neeran.  
"Mmhm," replied Ezra, too afraid to talk aloud.

"Ezra," said Neeran, stroking Ezra's hair. "I'd never harm purposefully like the people you were previously with would. You're my child now and that means I need to care for you and all of the others I've found and rescued."

"Do you promise?" asked Ezra, looking up at Neeran with his teary eyes.  
"Of course I do," replied Neeran looking at him kindly.  
Ezra hugged Neeran again and whispered, "Thank you very much, mummy."  
"You're welcome, Ezra," replied Neeran, returning the hug. After a few moments Neeran asked Ezra, "Where's the little girl we rescued Ezra?" 

"Kyipen's right here," said Ezra, revealing the bundle he'd been concealing. "But her nickname can be Kyipi. It's quicker to say."  
"You chose a name pretty quickly," replied Neeran, picking up the child that was now named Kyipen and nicknamed Kyipi.

Ezra nodded and said, "When I hid, I thought that they'd hurt her so I kept her close to me and concealed her."  
Ezra seemed proud of himself, but something was bothering Neeran.  
"Who were you hiding from?"

"A strange voice that seemed to echo around," replied Ezra, a little scared again. "He sounded menacing and cruel. He wanted me to join him and his master. To go to the dark side."

Neeran was very concerned now and asked, "With this voice, did you see an image?"  
Ezra nodded and said, "He looked like a human, but he had white skin, yellow eyes and fangs for teeth. He also had red markings on his face."

"That's not good," muttered Neeran, standing up and walking to the cockpit with Ezra following and asking, "What's wrong?"  
"I believe the person you saw was a Pau'un named the Grand Inquisitor. And he is a very dangerous foe," replied Neeran. "Hey Comm, we need to be ready for a surprise when we come out of hyperspace."

Comm beeped something and Neeran replied, "The Inquisitor has formed a mind-link with Ezra, he'll be tracking us."  
The stars of hyperspace vanished and the view of a dry grassy planet below filled the view screen. And the not so welcome sight of a Star Destroyer. The com crackled with an incoming transmission.  
"Here goes nothing," muttered Neeran, opening communications with the Star Destroyer.

"This is the Star Destroyer 'Liberation'. State your name and clearance code."  
"My name is Neeran Shne. And my clearance code is Spectre 7463-6263," said Neeran. "That good enough or do you want something else?"

"Your name and code are valid. But why is there more than one life form aboard?"  
"I'm bringing two of my relatives home from Gorse," replied Neeran.  
"Why are you bringing them here?"  
"Their father just passed away and I'm the only family able to care for them," replied Neeran, making up the whole story on the spot.  
"Permission granted, Niran, proceed to Lothal."

Neeran shut off the communications and said, "Well that went well. And they still can't say my name correctly."  
Ezra crawled into the co-pilots chair and asked Neeran, "Why did you make up that story?"

"Well they don't allow just anybody to enter Imperial controlled space or planets," replied Neeran, handing Kyipen over to Ezra and taking up the ships controls. "That and they'd probably blast us out of the atmosphere if they knew the truth about you and me."

Ezra nodded and a thought occurred to him.  
"Why is it the Empire knows your real name?"

"It's the name that I've chosen to be known on this planet," replied Neeran. "I'd actually run out of names to choose from and I already knew several people here who knew my true name, so I stuck with it."


	12. A Surprise.

Neeran guided the Spectre down towards the planets surface. She flew the ship over Capitol City and out towards the surrounding fields.

"There it is," said Neeran spotting her home. The ship glided over and Neeran parked the ship beside the house.

"Well, home again, home again," said Neeran, standing up and taking Kyipen from Ezra's arms and helping him down from the chair. Ezra took her hand and followed her as she led them off the ship and towards the home. When they reached the door, Neeran flicked her thumb and forefingers to the right and opened the door.

"Welcome to your new home, Ezra and Kyipen," said Neeran, leading Ezra into the place. Suddenly, a girl who looked about six years old with short light brown-red hair, a red headband and a braid on her shoulder like Neeran's, jumped out from behind the counter and yelled, "Surprise!"

Ezra exclaimed and darted behind Neeran, hiding from the girl.  
"Hello to you too, Janan," replied Neeran. "Where are the others?"

Two other children and a small weasel-cat thing appeared behind the girl and the counter.  
"One, two, three," said Neeran counting the heads of the children. "Okay, where's your brother?"

"He went to Capitol City this morning for some supplies," said a boy with dusty blonde hair that stood up straight making him look like he'd stuck his tongue in a powerpoint, and a braid on his shoulder like Neeran's.  
"Great," said Neeran looking at the three children. "And I'm guessing he left you in charge?"

"Yeah," replied a girl with dark brown hair and a braid on her shoulder like Neeran's.  
"They haven't been doing a very good job though," said the little girl.  
"Shut it Janan!" exclaimed the boy and girl.  
"I guess I'll find out later," sighed Neeran. 

Suddenly Neeran remembered something and said, "That reminds me, meet the two newest editions to our family: Ezra and Kyipen."  
"Who's who?" asked the spiky haired boy.  
"This one here's Kyipen, but her nickname is Kyipi," said Neeran showing them the girl in her arms. "And the one behind me is Ezra."

Behind her, Ezra peeked his head out slightly.  
"Hi there," said the six year old girl.  
"H-Hi," replied Ezra, barely audible and hiding behind Neeran again.

"Where'd you go this time?" asked the older girl.  
"Well I went to Jex first and that's where I rescued Ezra, then we went to Gorse to say hello to Jax and that's where we found Kyipen."  
"Who named her that?" asked the older girl, sounding a little sarcastic.  
"I did," whispered Ezra, clinging slightly to Neeran's leg.

"I let Ezra name her," said Neeran, patting his head. "Which reminds me, Ezra we need to break that mind link you have."  
"You mean with the strange voice?" asked Ezra seemingly hopeful.  
"That's the one," replied Neeran. "Jexxel, could you hold Kyipi for a moment."

"Sure," replied the older girl, taking Kyipi into her arms.  
"Ezra remember the feeling you had this morning when you woke me?" asked Neeran, who quickly added, "When I was trying to calm you."  
Ezra thought back before nodding.

"Good, that's going to happen again," replied Neeran. "Are you okay with that?"  
Ezra nodded.  
"Great," replied Neeran, kneeling in a seiza position. "Follow my lead."  
Ezra followed Neeran's example and sat down.

"Now, you need to lower your shields," continued Neeran.  
"What? How?" asked Ezra, extremely confused.  
"Relax yourself and picture thoughts of when you were happy."

Ezra inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Neeran smiled, closed her eyes and entered his mind. At first, Neeran wasn't sure what she might find in Ezra's mind, but as she walked around searching for the mind link she noticed he did at least have some happy memories. Neeran stopped at a memory she recognised.

It was her freeing him of the shackles.

"Recognition," murmured Neeran. "That's what he'd wanted. Not as a slave, but as a living human being."

Neeran continued and noticed another memory containing her and Ezra.   
In this one, they'd just found Kyipen and she was giggling. Then a thought occurred to Neeran.

"They all have me in them," said Neeran looking at his other memories of him with her. "All his happy memories were with me. He must have been a slave since birth."

Suddenly, Neeran heard footsteps coming towards her. Turning, Neeran saw it was the person she was looking for.

"Inquisitor."

Neeran drew her Lightsaber and faced her opponent.  
"You're just a teenager," said the Inquister. "How pathetic."  
"Things aren't always what they seem," replied Neeran activating her Lightsaber.  
The Inquisitor smirked, drew his Lightsaber and activated it.   
"We will see."

Their Lightsabers clashed as they began to fight for control over the mind-link in Ezra.


	13. Breaking a Mind-Link.

At first, it seemed the Inquisitor had the upper hand but Neeran was already planning ahead. Neeran had been studying the Inquisitor battle patterns and she'd found a weakness.

And she was going to exploit it.

The Inquisitor lunged at Neeran and she parried to the side and ran her Lightsaber up to his hilt.  
"Check."

The Inquisitor looked surprised but quickly hid it and swiped a fist at Neeran. Neeran ducked under his punch and swept him off his feet. The Inquisitor tumbled backwards and stood up. Neeran remained crouched on the ground looking up at him.

"Why do you care about this boy so much, Jedi scum?"  
Unknown to Neeran, her right eye became a cat-slit and her tail started thrashing about wildly behind her.

"He isn't just a boy, he's my child!"  
"Yours? He's not yours, you bought him."  
"And that means you Imperial assholes aren't doing a very good job in the Outer Rim are you!" retorted Neeran. 

Neeran swung her Lightsaber at him, and he deflected it easily.   
"Oh, I think we are."  
Neeran growled at him whilst still trying to hit him.

"The boy will fall. And when he does, I will be there to collect him."  
"No!" shouted Neeran, her left eye becoming a cat-slit and she lost herself to darkness. Neeran launched herself out at the Inquisitor, thrusting her Lightsaber at him wildly and randomly. The Inquisitor deflected most of them with ease, with only one or two of her strikes hitting there target. 

Suddenly, something extraordinary happened.

Whether Neeran just got lucky or the Inquisitor just lost focus remains a mystery to everyone, even the two present.

Somehow, Neeran managed to slip through the Inquisitors defence and kill his astro-plain body. Neeran's eyes reverted back to the way they originally were and she saw the Inquisitors astro-plain body fade. 

"How-?" started Neeran, who was cut off by the Inquisitor saying,  
"Impressive. You certainly are a worthy opponent."

With that his astro-body faded into nothing and Neeran was alone in the expanses of Ezra's mind. 

"Well, at least the mind-link is broken," said Neeran. "For now."

With that thought, Neeran left Ezra's mind and went back to her own.


	14. It's Always at Night.

Neeran opened her eyes and saw that everyone in then room was staring at her.

"What happened?" asked everyone in the room simultaneously.   
"Well, the mind-link was broken, but," said Neeran, not the least bit surprised by their simultaneously response. "The Inquisitor is definitely after us."

"Will he be able to track us here?" asked the dark brown haired girl.  
"He shouldn't be able to Jexxel," replied Neeran.

All of the occupants in the room sighed. All except Ezra, who looked very confused, and Kyipen, who didn't seem to register that they were talking.

"So, what have you lot been doing while I've been gone?" asked Neeran.

The little six year old girl pounced on the question and said, "We haven't really done much, but I missed your music. Can you please play some music now?"  
"Tonight, Janan. I'll play some tonight," replied Neeran smiling.  
"It's always at night," replied the girl called Janan, putting on a pouting face.

At the sight of that everyone started to laugh, even Janan.


	15. Introductions.

"Hey mum?" asked Ezra.  
"Yeah," replied Neeran, turning to face him.  
"What's everyone's names?" asked Ezra.

"Okay, I should probably tell you about all of these rescue children," said Neeran. "The girl over there with the dark brown hair and thin braid is Jexxel. Her actual name is Nadia, she's eleven this year and she's the one I told you about on the ship. 

The boy over there with blonde frizzy hair and thin braid is Chopper. That's not his actual name but he can't remember and he's turning nine soon. 

The girl with the brown-red hair, the red band and thin braid is called Janan. She's turning six next week. And I think that's everyone."

"You forgot two people," said Janan.  
"Who'd I forget?" asked Neeran.

"Shakkuri," replied Chopper, looking up from the book he was reading on the floor.  
"And Zach," added Janan, looking backwards over the couch she was on.

"Oh yeah I did too," muttered Neeran, slapping her forehead. "Okay, there are two more member of the family you haven't met. One is a friend of mine Zach. I don't actually know his age and you won't be able to see him unless he lets you. The others name's Shakkuri and he's turning twenty this year. Everyone around he calls him their elder, eldest brother, except when they're training."

"And when we're training with you too," added Jexxel.  
"True."

"Can I have some help?" asked Jexxel, staring at some papers on the table.   
"What are you doing?" asked Neeran, walking over to her.  
"Homework," mumbled Jexxel.  
"Okay, let's see what you're doing," said Neeran, walking over to Jexxel. Ezra followed behind Neeran and looked at Jexxels' work. Neeran read the equation to herself: 9xyz + 49xy = ?

"Okay so what don't you understand?" asked Neeran.  
"The answer is 58x2y2z," said Ezra.  
"How'd you know that?" asked Neeran, looking from the paper to Ezra and back again.

"My friend at that planet taught me," replied Ezra, seemingly nervous again.  
"From Jex?" asked Neeran.  
Ezra nodded and said, "He taught me many things."  
"Did he have a name?" asked Neeran.

Ezra shook his head. "He never told me his name."  
"Okay then, what did he look like?" asked Neeran.  
"I never saw him," replied Ezra, afraid Neeran wouldn't believe him. "He just sort of spoke to me in my mind."

'That's rare,' thought Neeran. 'There aren't that many beings who can do that. Except for...'  
Neeran's thoughts were interrupted by Jexxel asking, "Do you know anyone like that?"  
"No, I don't," replied Neeran. 'Though I have my suspicions.'


	16. Where Are You All From?

"Where'd you rescue everyone from?" asked Ezra, looking at everyone in the room.  
"Well, I tried to rescue several children from the Jedi Temple four years ago on the night of Order 66 with Shakkuri," started Neeran. 

"It ended badly. Afterwards, we bought came here to Lothal. I was still in shock after the incident at the Temple so I went to Gorse to talk with Jax. When I was leaving to come home, I found Jexxel being beaten by several people. After getting rid of them, I bought Jexxel to Lothal. 

After that I began chasing up rumours of Jedi survivors. And, one year and six months after I'd rescued Jexxel, that led me, Shakkuri, Zach and Jexxel to the underground of Lirrian, where I met a mentally distressed Chopper, who, at that time, was suffering from a major case of amnesia and didn't even know what his own name was. After fixing up him up and helping Chopper choose a name for himself, I bought him back here to our home. 

After about another year and six months, I ran into another lead on a surviving Jedi. Whilst chasing this lead, I ended up on Mandalore where I met Janan. She was covered in blood and running away from several slavers and happened to come across me. After getting rid of the slavers, I offered her a choice to come with me. At first she was afraid but accepted in the end. 

After about a year of listening for leads, I came across one that landed me on Jex, where I met you, and you know the story from there."

"Why did Janan have blood all over her?" asked Ezra.  
"The slavers," whispered Neeran.  
"They killed her the one she had come to consider her parent right in front of her eyes." 

Ezra shuddered and mumbled, "They kill mine in front of me too."  
"I'm pretty sure Choppers', Jexxels', and possibly even Kyipi's, parents were killed in front of them as well," replied Neeran. "Mine were."

Ezra went to ask Neeran about her last statement, when the little girl Kyipen walked in.   
"Evening," said Janan, brightly.  
"Who are you? Where am I?" asked the girl.

"It's okay, Kyipen. You're safe here," said Neeran, then indicating everyone in the room. "You're on Lothal. I'm Neeran. This is Ezra, Janan, Chopper and Jexxel."  
At the mention of their names, Ezra waved shyly, Janan beamed brightly, Chopper smiled and Jexxel saluted and went back to her work.

"This is our crazy mismatched family," continued Neeran, proudly.


	17. What Were You Thinking?

"Neeran! What were you thinking?!"

The voice of an almost twenty year old man echoed through the house.  
"Well, I couldn't just leave them there!" replied Neeran, equally as anger.

"Uh oh," whispered Jexxel, as she and everyone, except for Kyipen and Ezra, watched Neeran and there brother Shakkuri argue. "This isn't gonna go well."

"And you don't think the Imperials will notice?" replied Shakkuri. "They're already suspicious of us."  
"They're suspicious of everyone," replied Neeran.   
"Yeah, but how many people do you know on this planet who have five kids!?" exclaimed Shakkuri.  
"Not that many, but that's beside the point!" replied Neeran.  
"No, it's exactly the point!" retorted Shakkuri. "Three was bad enough."  
"You've been saying that since I bought Chopper here," replied Neeran. "You just change the number."  
"Point still stands," replied Shakkuri.  
"Jackass," replied Neeran.

Neeran and Shakkuri began trading insults, whilst Chopper said, "That went better than expected."  
"Yeah," said Janan. "I could have sworn they were gonna rip each other's throats out."  
"That was unnecessary, Janan," replied Chopper, seemingly shuddering at the thought. Jexxel also shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, Janan!" called Neeran. "That was a really dumb thing to say, considering what everyone here's been through."

Everyone seemed to freeze.

"How did she know we were here?" whispered Janan.

"Everything resonates with the Force, and we're all connected to it," said Neeran, turning to face them. "And Janan, you've seen people getting their throats ripped out or with their throats ripped out."


	18. To Listen and Learn.

Night had descended on the plains of Lothal. 

Neeran stood on the small verandah and watched the last rays of sunshine disappear and be replaced by the twin moons and many twinkling stars. Several dark shapes moved through the long grass and Neeran heard whimper behind her. Neeran turned and looked at Ezra who was hiding behind her.

"It's okay Ezra," said Neeran. "They're only Loth-dogs."  
"What's a Loth-dog?" asked Ezra. 

Neeran thought for a moment before saying,  
"I'll show you."

Neeran stretched out her hand and called the Loth-dogs towards the house. The Loth-dogs seemed to halt for a moment before racing towards the house. They stopped at the bottom of the verandah and looked up at Neeran and Ezra. The older male was grey-brown with shaggy fur and the older female was red and white. The five of the six cubs looked like their mum and the other one looked like her dad.

"This is Balto and Jenna, and these are their six cubs."

Chopper then stuck his head out the door and exclaimed, "Hey guys, Balto and Jenna are back!"  
Jexxel and Janan raced out the door with Chopper while Kyipi hung back slightly.  
"It's okay," whispered Shakkuri to the little girl. "Even though Balto is part Loth-wolf, he is still really friendly towards kind people."

Kyipi nodded and went up to the Loth-dogs/wolves and the pups scampered up to greet her. Kyipi instantly loved them and her fear melted away. Ezra followed her lead and fell in love with the wolf-dog family. Neeran smiled at the sight of her five rescue kids enjoying the time they were spending with what was the equivalent of their family dogs. 

But their fun had to end eventually.

"Bed time," called Neeran, and everyone made to groan but Neeran cut in and said, "And no complaining or I'll revoke the right for you to stay up this late."  
"But it's only 7:30," said Chopper checking his watch. 

"That's late enough," replied Neeran. "I was going to bed at that time even when I was 12a."  
Janan leaned over to Ezra and whispered, "She means 13. Mum's scared of the number. She thinks it's taboo."

"I heard that Janan," said Neeran, a slight note of irritation creeping into her voice. "I may be slightly blind but I'm not deaf."  
"Actually-"

"Shut up the both of you," said Neeran, without even looking at Shakkuri and the mysterious invisible figure that Neeran seemed to constantly talk to and pointing a finger at each of them. 

They both burst out laughing but didn't finish making their comment.

Suddenly, a dog's howl in the distance cut through the night. Balto turned and growled in the direction of the howl.  
"Steele," muttered Neeran. "Guys, get inside now."

This time, no one hesitated in going back into the house. Jenna led her six cubs under the house to their small hide away under there. Still growling, Balto moved over to the entrance under the house and lay down to block the entrance from intruders.

Neeran and Shakkuri entered the house again and looked at each other for a second. 

They needed to talk later. 

Right now, they needed to get everyone to bed.

Jexxel, Chopper, Janan, Ezra and Kyipen made their way towards their shared bedroom and Neeran followed. When Neeran reached the room, Jexxel, Janan and Chopper were already in their beds and Kyipi and Ezra were crawling into theirs. Neeran walked in and said, "Kisses everyone."

Janan jumped out of bed and ran to Neeran, with Kyipi following her. Neeran crouched down and gave Janan and Kyipi each a kiss on the cheek. They then hurried back to their beds.

Jexxel and Chopper were both on the top bunks because they were the eldest of the five. Neeran, begin slightly shorter than normal, stood on the edge of the bottom bunk to reach them. 

Finally, she reached Ezra. Neeran pulled the blanket over him as he shivered slightly. He looked at her with a slightly surprised look and smiled, "Thank you."  
Neeran leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight Ezra."  
"Goodnight mum," whispered Ezra and he snuggled further under the warm blanket.  
"Goodnight," replied Neeran. "Goodnight Jexxel, Janan, Chopper and Kyipi."

Neeran glanced behind her into the room one final time before closing the door behind her. 

Ezra suddenly realised how tired he actually was. His eyes began to sag closed as the time slowly passed and he was nearly asleep when something, or rather someone, shook him slightly. Ezra shot up with a start and as he was about to exclaim, a hand was clamped on his mouth.

"Please don't freak out," hissed Janan quietly. Ezra nodded and Janan released her hand.  
"What's wrong?" asked Ezra fully alert now.  
"Follow me," whispered Janan as she crept towards the door.

Ezra was mystified by what Janan was talking about and, with curiosity overwhelming him, Ezra followed. Janan peered around the door before motioning for Ezra to follow. Ezra hesitated, remembering an escape attempt of his that had gone horribly wrong. 

He could still hear the others' screams every now and then.

Janan slipped out the door and Ezra nervously followed. Janan silently led him to a ladder propped up against a wall and began to ascend, with Ezra following behind.   
When they reached the top, Janan opened a small skylight and crawled onto the roof. Ezra climbed higher and Janan helped him onto the roof. 

Motioning forward, Janan led him to the apex point of the roof and indicated for him to be silent. Even though he was confused, Ezra kept silent and followed Janan's gaze to the figure sitting near the edge of the roof.

The figure raised a small device to her mouth and began to play a tune.  
"This song is called 'Mononoke Hime: Ashitaka and San'," whispered Janan as Neeran continued the tune. Suddenly, Neeran finished the tune and lowered the instrument.

"I know you like listening to me play the ocarina Janan, but you and Ezra should be in bed," said Neeran suddenly. Janan grinned sheepishly and sweat dropped while Ezra started shaking fearfully.

Neeran sighed. "Well since you're up here, you must want to hear a song right?"  
Janan nodded and slid gracefully down beside Neeran. Ezra followed her but he kept stumbling as he slowly went down and sat next to Neeran.

"What one do you want to listen to then?" asked Neeran, raising an eyebrow at Janan.  
Janan thought for a moment before saying, "How about 'Safe and Sound'?"

"You sure?" asked Neeran. "You only get one choice tonight."  
" 'Safe and Sound' then," replied Janan.  
"Okay," replied Neeran as she softly sang them the tune.  
Janan and Ezra both hugged Neeran once she finished the song.  
"Thank you," they both whispered to a slightly surprised Neeran.  
"You're welcome," replied Neeran, wrapping her arms around the both of them. "Now, it's definitely bed time."

"Is something wrong Master?" asked Shakkuri.  
"You've known me for almost a decade and you still can't get over that?"   
Shakkuri shrugged and said, "It was drilled into me from birth so I can't really get over that quickly."  
"Good point," said Neeran. "At least you only occasionally call me that at home here."

"I've deliberately trained myself to do that," smiled Shakkuri. "Only taken about four years. What's wrong?"  
"What's not, the lead was a dead end," said Neeran. "Nothing. It's almost like we're the only Jedi left in the galaxy."

"But I'm sure we're not," said Shakkuri. "I didn't feel my friends die and I don't think you did either. We know that they're alive somewhere."  
"That's about the only bonus thing," sighed Neeran. "I don't even know why I do this anymore."

"Because we have hope," said Shakkuri. "Hope that future generations will be able to fix our mistakes from the Wars."  
"You've certainly developed a way with words," said Neeran. "You've come a long way from the scrawny scared thirteen year old I met at the Temple at the beginning of the Clone Wars."

"I can't take all the credit for that," said Shakkuri. "You're the one who taught me."  
Shakkuri got up and said, "I'm heading to bed. See you in the morning."  
"Goodnight, my Padawan," said Neeran. Shakkuri smiled but didn't say anything.

<11:00pm....>

The house was silent except for the night sounds outside. 

Neeran sat on the couch in lounge room and stared out the window. She was waiting for a holo-call from a friend. 

Finally, it came.

Neeran turned on the holo-receiver and an couple of old friends appeared.   
"Nice to hear from you guys again, finally," said Neeran. "I've been waiting for hours."

"Ha ha, yeah," replied Deunan. "Very funny. We've been busy."  
"Yeah?" asked Neeran, grinning smugly. "Doing what?"  
"Surviving a Sith Lord ranks pretty highly," replied Deunan.

Neeran stopped grinning and became serious. "Who?"  
"The guy who's been killing all the Jedi," replied Deunan. "You know, Darth Vader."  
Neeran thought about that for a moment. "Was that the reason for the call?"

"Partly," replied her partner, Briareos. "But there's more you need to know."  
"If this has anything to do with Kane and Jex, I'm sorry," said Neeran. "I just snapped again."

"Yes and no," replied Deunan. "The kids you rescued from Jex and Gorse. What happened to them?"  
"They're both here with me," replied Neeran. "What about them?"

"The one from Jex," started Briareos. "He's wanted back on Jex now."  
"By who?"  
"The man who was the head of the whole operation, the one above Kane," said Briareos. "Juan Briaxe is his name."

"You guys don't happen to be on Jex right now by any chance?" asked Neeran, considering the new information.  
"It's our new base of operation," replied Deunan.  
"Reckon you could keep an eye on him for me?"

"We can try," replied Deunan, considering the assignment. "No promises though."  
"That's fine Deunan," replied Neeran. "I just want to protect the boy."  
"Well," started Deunan. "We need to get a move on if we want get your job and ours done. Bye Commander Neeran."

Deunan gave a mock salute and poked out her tongue.  
"You'll never stop using my military names, huh?" asked Neeran, returning the mock salute and grinning.  
"Nope," replied Deunan as the hologram faded.

Once the hologram was gone, Neerans' smile faded and she hung her head while flopping against the couch.  
"Why can't it all go away?" whispered Neeran as a tear streamed down her face. "Am I really always going to revert back to what I was?"  
"Maybe," said someone beside her. "But that doesn't change the person that I loved all those year ago."

"Softy," grunted Neeran as the invisible figure as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.  
"Who's soft?" he asked jokingly.  
Then joked back and forth until eventually Neeran feel asleep.


	19. Where Did You Come From?

Neeran leaned against a support beam of the roof and watched four of her five children play among the tall grass that was all over the plains of Lothal with Balto, Jenna and their pups. 

Neeran smiled to herself and scratched Stars' head. Star purred contently and rubbed her head on Neerans' hand as Neeran continued to scratch her.

"I'm glad you've never left Star," whispered Neeran, pressing her head against the weasel-cat-rat creature. "I'd probably be a complete wreck if it weren't for you and Zach. And everyone really." 

Neeran heard the floorboards creak near the door and saw Ezra walk out of the house. He plonked himself down and watched the others all play amongst the grass.   
He seemed to be looking at them longingly but something was holding him back.

"Why don't you go play with them?" asked Neeran, crossing her arms casually.  
"I'm scared," whispered Ezra shivering slightly.  
Neeran walked over and sat next to him. "Why?"  
"I saw some kids playing once when I was a slave," whispered Ezra his eyes tearing slightly. "When the man who sold me came and shouted at them. I didn't hear what was said, but then he pulled out a blaster and-"

Ezra hiccuped and Neeran pulled him close.  
"He killed them."

Neeran hugged him tighter but stayed silent for a moment.  
"I've seen that happen before, to my childhood friends at my home planet," whispered Neeran. "It nearly happened to Shakkuri back in the Clone Wars."  
Ezra nodded and asked, "Where did you come from?"

"Me?" replied Neeran raising an eyebrow and letting Star run down her arm and back into the house.   
"I came from a place called Earth."  
"Earth?" asked Ezra.

"I didn't expect you to have heard of it," replied Neeran. "It's in another part of this galaxy that's a long way away, and it's a wretched hive of scum, deceit, lies, treachery and villainy."  
"But it was your home wasn't it?" asked Ezra.

Neeran scoffed and said, "Home? Everyone there didn't care about anyone. It was fight for the right to live or over you won't see the light of tomorrow."  
"But why?"

"The military. They enforced fear into the hearts of everyone," muttered Neeran. "They took me and many others away from the orphanages or from their homes when we were thirteen and trained us in the military for two years. After that, they did something to me that cannot be undone."

"What did they do?" asked Ezra, seemingly forcing himself to ask.  
"My tail, claws, ears, eyes, hair, burn like stripes and the tattoos on me are the results of their experiments," replied Neeran. "They altered my DNA back to the way it originally had been and turned me into a crazed killing machine monster."

"Didn't your family care?" asked Ezra.  
Neeran didn't replied.  
"Neeran?" 

Neeran stopped herself from snapping at Ezra and said, "My family was murdered. I barely knew anything about my little brother, three little sisters, mother or father."

Neeran paused for a moment.  
"I was only seven years old."

There was an almost malleable silence between them as a few tears escaped Neerans' eyes.

"Neeran," said the invisible voice. "You don't have to say anything more about that incident."

Ezra looked around, still trying to find the mystery voice.  
"You should probably introduce yourself, ya know?" said Neeran, still looking like she was talking to herself.

"You," said a male teenager with an adult-like voice. "Sure are a pain, ya know?"  
"Hey, that's my line!" replied Neeran, smirking.

Ezra jumped and turned to the voice. 

Standing behind him was the shimmering blue apparition of a fifteen looking year old boy.

"Ezra, meet Zach," said Neeran behind him. "My boyfriend."


	20. My Boyfriend.

"You have a boyfriend?" asked Ezra, looking between Neeran and Zach. "Isn't Shakkuri your partner?"

Neeran laughed at that and said, "Ezra, he's my Padawan. We just made up a story that he was my adopted son to hide from the Empire."  
"Well, at first it was a pretty crap story," said Zach.

"Yeah," replied Neeran. "Zach helped improve the story and we've managed to stay hidden for this long."  
Ezra considered this and then asked, "How long have you been hiding?"  
"From who?" asked Neeran. "The Empire or anyone else?"  
"Both," replied Ezra.

"We've been hiding from the Empire for about four-ish years," said Neeran. "But Zach and I have been hiding pretty much all our lives."  
"Why?" asked Ezra.

"No one really likes Neeran for what she is," replied Zach. "She's different from most people, so they fear her, and the Empires' thing against alien species hasn't helped. It also doesn't help that she is a kleptomaniac and, to a certain degree, a pyromaniac."

"Klepto-, pyro- what?" asked Ezra.  
"Kleptomaniac, it means I have an irresistible urge to steal stuff," informed Neeran. "And pyromaniac means I have thing for setting stuff on fire."

"What kind of stuff?" asked Zach, wishing to confirm something.  
"Ah, usually Empire crap, but other people who piss me off, their stuff goes up in flames too," replied Neeran nonchalantly.  
"I was afraid of that," sighed Zach.

"You're incorporeal so you don't have to worry about it," said Neeran, waving the matter aside.

"Unless I get my body back."


	21. School.

It was a Monday and the first day of a new school year.

"Come on everyone," called Neeran though the house. "Breakfast."  
Everyone came racing into the kitchen, all except for Ezra and Kyipen.  
Neeran quickly counted heads and then said, "Where's Ezra and Kyipen?"  
"Maybe they're still asleep?" suggested Chopper, shrugging his shoulders.

"Jexxel, you can serve breakfast, I'll go wake up Ezra and Kyipen," said Neeran.  
"Okay," chorused everyone in the room and they helped themselves to breakfast.  
Neeran walked down the hallway to where Ezra and Kyipen were supposed to be sleeping. On the way, she saw Kyipen closing the bedroom door behind her and staggering along the hallway.

"Morning," said Neeran.  
"Hello, mummy," replied Kyipen sleepily.  
"The others are in the kitchen having breakfast, if you're hungry," said Neeran.  
"Okay," replied Kyipen, yawning and sleepily making her way to the kitchen.

Neeran smiled and turned to the closed bedroom door beside her. Opening the door, Neeran slipped into the room and walked over to Ezra's bed.  
"Here goes," muttered Neeran, knowing full well what was about to happen.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, Neeran jostled Ezra slightly. He awoke with a start and scrambled into the corner of the bed whilst covering his head and saying hurriedly, "I'm sorry, I overslept. Please don't punish me."

"Ezra it's okay, we're not going to punish you," said Neeran soothingly.  
Ezra opened his eyes and sighed with relief. Neeran knew what he was thinking and couldn't help but feel sorry for the four year old boy before her.  
"Breakfast is ready," said Neeran.

Ezra's stomach growled as he stood up off the bed and followed Neeran to the kitchen. When they got there, everyone else was seated and eating.  
"Morning you two," said Shakkuri, greeting them as they entered.  
"Morning," replied Neeran and Ezra.

Neeran handed Ezra a plate with food on it that Jexxel had prepared and grabbed her own, and they went to sit down. With everyone seated, the usual conversations that happened at the table began. After several minutes of random talking, Chopper piped up a question on everyone's minds, "Hey, mum. Does Ezra have to do the school tests today?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," replied Neeran.  
"What tests?" asked Ezra, trembling slightly.  
"It's required that everyone aged 4 to 17 takes these school entry test to decide what grade they're gonna be in," explained Neeran. "In my opinion, they're a stupid waste of time, but can't argue with them. They're too suspicious of everyone, especially us."

"And adding new members to our already large family only makes it worse," added Shakkuri.  
"Seriously?" asked Neeran.   
"He's serious Neeran," said Zach, from his seat on the counter.  
"You can shut up now," said Neeran, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.  
"Temper, temper," scolded Zach.  
"Are you kidding me?" asked Neeran turning to face him fully.  
"Maybe, maybe not," replied Zach, nonchalantly.  
"Why do I even bother with you men?" muttered Neeran, returning to her meal. "You're both supposed to be the responsible ones and I'm supposed to be the idiotic one."

That comment caused everyone at the table to laugh, and Zach even fell off the counter laughing, and eventually Neeran even joined in.

"Bye mum, see you this afternoon," shouted Jexxel, as she ran off to her classroom.  
"Bye. Picking you up from the usual spot, okay?" replied Neeran, to the disappearing kid.  
"See you this afternoon," said Chopper, as he went his way.  
"Don't get into another fight again Chopper," called Neeran. "And don't steal anything either of you."  
"Are you coming to my classroom today?" asked Janan, practically bouncing off the walls.  
"If you want me too," replied Neeran. "Come on Kyipen, Ezra."

"Coming," said Kyipen, looking around in awe, while Ezra stayed close to Neeran and cowered behind her in fear of all the people around him and clutched his tangled mix of orange and pink kyipi's tighter to his chest. Janan had run ahead a little bit and Kyipen had gone to catch up to her. Neeran smiled at the sight of them playing together. Considering where Janan had come from, it was a definite improvement.

"Good morning Janan," said an unfamiliar voice. Ezra jumped at the voice and hid behind Neeran.  
"Morning, Mrs Bridger," replied Janan happily.  
"Who's your friend there?" asked the lady.  
"This is my little sister Kyipen, but her nickname is Kyipi," remarked Janan.  
"Oh, you've got a little sister now," replied the lady.

"And a little brother," added Neeran, having reached the place they were talking.  
"Good morning Neeran," said the lady. "Still rescuing everyone I see."  
"Morning Mira. Yeah kinda hard not to," replied Neeran, looking a little sheepish.  
Mira shook her head and smiled, "So what are they're names?"

"Well, that's Kyipen or Kyipi," said Neeran indicating to Kyipi. "And this one behind me is Ezra."  
"Did you name them?" asked Mira.  
"I didn't name them but Ezra named Kyipen," replied Neeran.

"Do either of them have a last name?" asked Mira.  
"You should know that none of us have proper last names," replied Neeran.   
"Except for you."  
"Zanesha, Zaneshi, and Shne aren't my actual last names," replied Neeran.  
"I meant Dowdle, Anika," said Mira.

Panicking slightly, Neeran quickly opened a mind-link with Mira and said, 'They know me as Neeran, so don't bring up my old name please, last name included.'  
'Alright,' replied Mira.

"Who's Anika?" asked Janan.  
"A code name I had a while ago when I was here with Mira and Ephriam," replied Neeran, quickly thinking up an excuse.  
"Who's that?" asked Kyipi.  
"My husband," said Mira.  
"Is he Mr Bridger?" asked Janan.  
"Yes, he's Jexxel's teacher this year," replied Mira.

Suddenly, a bell rang and Ezra jumped and exclaimed loudly, covering his ears.   
"It's okay Ezra," said Neeran, crouching down beside him and pulling him into a hug. Janan had run off to the port rack and had placed her bag on it.  
"What's wrong?" asked Mira coming up beside Neeran.  
"He was a slave on Jex," whispered Neeran to Mira quietly so none of the other parents could hear. "Even though it's been about two months, pretty much anything startles him."

"I see," replied Mira. "How do you think he'll do in school?"  
"Badly," replied Neeran, picking up Ezra. "Not academically but mentally. Anything startles him and he's afraid of pretty much everyone except the members of our 'family'. What do you think I should do?"  
"He'll have to take the test you know," said Mira.

"That's what I'm afraid of," replied Neeran. "He's force-sensitive and doesn't have any control over it. It takes control when he's afraid and he doesn't have any knowledge of what he's doing, or that he's even doing it."

Ezra was sobbing quietly into Neeran's shoulder.  
"Well, maybe the school can make an exception in his case," said Mira thoughtfully. "Just leave out the Force-sensitivity."  
"I'd do that anyway," replied Neeran, smiling slightly. "He's not the first Force-sensitive I've looked after, or trained."  
"Well, in that case, welcome to school, Ezra," said Mira, patting Ezra on the back before entering the classroom.


	22. Tests.

Neeran still held Ezra close to her as Mira left to do her job. He was still sobbing slightly.

"Everything's fine Ezra," said Neeran, as Kyipi came over.  
"What's wrong with Ezra?" asked Kyipi.  
"He just got a bit scared from the bell before," replied Neeran.

Suddenly, Neeran looked over at a group of parents, mostly mothers, staring at her. She stared back at them and many looked away. But none could deny what Neeran had heard them say.

'What's wrong with that child?'   
'He doesn't seem normal.'   
'He comes from her family. No one's ever normal in that family'   
'How could someone be afraid of that?'   
'Why does he act like a baby?'   
'How can she still be taking in freaks like him?'   
'Why hasn't anyone gotten suspicious of her and her family yet?'

But Neeran also knew that Ezra had heard as well.  
"Don't listen to them Ezra," whispered Neeran to him. "They don't know anything about you and what you've been through. And even though our family's different, it's also special in more ways than one."

Ezra hugged her tightly and whispered, "Thank you mummy, for helping to heal my heart."  
"You're welcome," replied Neeran. "Now let's go get those tests done so we can leave."

Neeran felt Ezra nod on her shoulder. Reaching down her right hand, Neeran grabbed Kyipi's hand and guided her away from the parents Neeran hated the most and probably hated her as well.

"Where are we going?" asked Kyipi, looking up at Neeran with her amber eyes.  
"To the school office," replied Neeran. "That's where Ezra will need to take this test."  
"Will you be with me?" asked Ezra.  
"They don't normally allow it, but they will hopefully make an exception this time," said Neeran, wondering how she would convince them to allow her to be with Ezra.

"So you have another child taking the school tests Neeran?" asked the lady behind the counter.  
"Yeah, I've got five now," replied Neeran. "This is the fourth, Ezra. He'll be taking the tests today."  
"What about the girl?"  
"Kyipen's too young just now, she's only two," replied Neeran.  
"Alright then, I'm sure you know what to do by now Neeran. You've already done this three times."  
"Sure do," replied Neeran, giving a mock salute. "But there's something I need to ask you."  
"What now?" asked the lady, rolling her eyes slightly.

Neeran checked to make sure Ezra wasn't listening before whispering, "Is it possible for me to sit the test with Ezra?"  
"You know we can't allow that under normal circumstances," replied the lady, eyeing her suspiciously.  
"This isn't what you call a normal circumstance," replied Neeran. "Just like with Jexxel, Chopper and Janan, Ezra and Kyipen are rescue children. Kyipen's mother was murdered and just dumped on the side of the road with her next to it and Ezra... Ezra was a slave on Jex. He is scared of everything around him and reacts to the smallest things that ordinary people won't notice." 

"How do you manage to find these sorts of people?" asked the lady shaking her head.  
"You're not the first person to ask that," said Neeran.  
"I guess it will be fine for you to be with Ezra while he takes the test," sighed the lady. "But you know you can't help him."  
"I don't think he'd need any of my help," whispered Neeran to herself quietly.   
"He demonstrated that he could solve homework questions that Jexxel had."

Ezra looked quickly over the paper before picking up his pencil and began scribbling what seemed like working out and answers on the sheet. To Neeran, it was incredibly legible for someone who she didn't think would have known how to write with a pencil properly. 

And, it was all correct.

Neeran couldn't spot a single mistake in all of Ezra's work and she could read it all even though Ezra had been a slave for the first four years of his life. Ezra tapping her shoulder after twenty minutes awoke Neeran from her daze.

"I've finished it," he whispered to Neeran.  
Neeran blinked a couple of times before registering what he'd said.  
"Oh, well then we can leave."  
Ezra gathered up the sheets of paper he'd done his working on and followed Neeran. Neeran took the sheets of paper from him and handed them to the teacher present to watch the tests. He stapled the sheets together and motioned for them to leave as Ezra was the first to finish, even before the older students.

"How did you know all those answers Ezra?" asked Neeran as they walked through the streets of Capitol City.

"It was like that voice had taught me," replied Ezra sticking close to Neeran and Kyipen. "He was there in my mind and urging me to try my hardest but he didn't tell me the answers."  
"You always call this voice a he, why is that?" asked Neeran.  
"It sounds like a male so I think it's a guy."

"I see," replied Neeran. 'I think I know who this mysterious voice may be. But he'd never admit to it I don't think."


	23. Starting School.

<1 week later...>

Neeran heard a small chime inside her head and 10 small figures appeared in front of her.

"Hey guys," said Neeran. "What do you need?"  
"Ezra's report on the test just came through," said the green-yellow figure Delta.  
"We thought that you'd like to check it out," added the blue-silver figure Epsilon.  
"Alright, pull it up," said Neeran.

A page of writing appeared in front of Neeran and she skim read it, ignoring most the writing having read it before. 

Finally, she found what she was looking for in the report.  
"Here it is."

Neeran glanced across the lines and read them, "Your child has passed the entrance test with flying colours and we wish to inform you that he/she will be entering grade 1."

"Ezra must be really smart," said a small red-purple-blue figure named Theta.  
"He's in the same grade as Janan," answered Neeran.   
"That's a good thing," said two twin AI's who were gold and silver whose names were Eta and Iota respectively.  
"Sure is you two," replied Neeran.

"Knock, knock," said a misty blue figure named Gamma.  
"Shut it Gamma," said Neeran. "Don't you four have anything to add?"   
"No it's been pretty much summed up," said a silver-white and black striped figure called Alpha.  
"Nothing else that we need to add," added a black and silver striped figure named Beta.  
"Sigma? Omega?" asked Neeran raising an eyebrow.

The fire coloured AI called Sigma looked at her with a look that told her he had nothing to say about the news and the other black and blue hued AI Omega seemed to be evilly plotting something and hadn't seemed to have heard her. Neeran rolled her eyes and went back to the document before her.

"Seems that I should tell everyone else," sighed Neeran. "Hey guys! Come on into the front room!"  
Footsteps came thundering across the floor as Neeran whispered to the ten AI,  
"Instruction: keep the display up and log off."

The AI all blinked and flashed off as the five children all came into the room and hurried over to her with Shakkuri right behind them.  
"Yes mum?" asked all of the children simultaneously.  
Neeran suppressed a giggle and replied, "Well, Ezra's report just came through so do you all want to hear it?"  
"Yes!" exclaimed all of them.

"Alright," said Neeran and read, " 'Your child has passed the entrance test with flying colours and we wish to inform you that he/she will be entering grade 1.' What do you all reckon? Pretty good?"  
"So is Ezra in my class?" asked Janan excitedly.  
"Most likely," replied Neeran.  
"Yay!"

"So that means you all will be taking care of him at school now," added Neeran.  
"We take care of each other anyway, mum," replied Jexxel.   
"I know, just making sure."

Ezra grabbed Neeran's hand as she stood up from beside the table where he sat with Janan and three of her friends.  
"Ezra, I can't stay here," said Neeran. "I have to go to work."  
"But, I'm scared," whispered Ezra.

"Don't worry Ezra. Janan and her three friends here will look after you today as well as Jexxel and Chopper at lunchtimes."  
"But, will you be here?" asked Ezra.  
"I will this afternoon when school is over," replied Neeran, when an idea suddenly occurred to her. 

Fishing into her pocket, Neeran pulled out a small marble with a twisting blue pattern in it and placed it in Ezra's hand.  
"Here, have this. When you miss me or need to know I'll come back, just take a hold of this marble and think of me. Can you do that?"  
Ezra nodded, took a hold of the marble and asked, "So, you will come back?"  
"Of course," replied Neeran ruffling his hair. "I said I'd look after you, didn't I?"

Ezra smiled and let go of Neeran's hand. Seeing Ezra would be okay, Neeran left the classroom to go to work waving goodbye to Mira before she left.  
"Can I see the marble Ezra?" asked Janan.  
"Sure," replied Ezra showing it to his older 'sister'.  
"Whoa," exclaimed Janan.   
"What?" asked Ezra a little scared.

"This mums' special marble," said Janan. "It's the one her mum gave her when she started grade 1."  
"Really?"   
"Yeah, she's given us all one," replied Janan pulling hers out of her pocket. It was the same as Ezra's, only purple instead of blue. "Choppers' is red, Jexxels' is yellow and Dads' is green."  
Janan then signalled for them to be quiet as Mira had just started to teach. 

Neeran walked around behind the counter of the cafe and greeted the girl behind it. "Morning Zaera." "Morning Neeran. How are you?" replied Zaera perking up at Neeran entering the store. "I'm good. How about you and Caine?" "I'm fine and you can ask Caine how he is yourself," replied Zaera indicating to the man walking in from out the back. "Good morning Neeran. Just finished the school run did you?" said Caine, glancing at his watch. "Took a bit longer than normal." "Well, that's because I've gotten another two children," replied Neeran. "Ezra didn't want me to leave him at school and Kyipen is at home with Shakkuri." "Where did you find these two?" asked Zaera. Neeran lowered her voice and said, "Ezra was a slave on Jex and Kyipi is from Gorse. Neither of them have parents left." Zaera shook her head and Caine clenched his fists. "How are your boys doing?" asked Neeran changing the subject. "Sinbad is in the same grade as Jexxel and Ja'far and Seishuun are with Janan this year," said Caine. "They're growing up too fast for me," said Neeran looking out at the street. "That's funny coming from you," snickered Zaera, leaning on the bench beside Neeran. Neeran paused for a moment before laughing and saying, "Haha, very funny. Not!"


	24. Friends & Bullies.

"How was that Ezra?" asked Ja'far as they left the classroom and went to morning tea.  
"It was... different," said Ezra following Janan and her three best friends Ja'far, Tilda and Seishuun. 

He'd learned their names during class. Ja'far and Seishuun were male fraternal twins who had an older brother in Jexxel's grade called Sinbad and Tilda had an older brother called Bain and and older sister called Sigrid. Bain was in Jexxel's grade and Sigrid was in Chopper's grade. 

But Ezra still missed Neeran very much.

Ezra fished into his pocket and pulled out the tiny blue coloured marble Neeran had given him that morning before she'd left to go to work. He just stared at it for a moment and thought about how much he missed Neeran.

Then suddenly, it was gone from his hand.

"Hey!" exclaimed Ezra turning to face who'd stolen the tiny blue marble. Ezra came face to face with a mean looking girl who was a dark tan-skinned human with brown eyes and near-black hair that was faintly blonde on the ends. Normally, Ezra would be scared out of his wits, and in fact he was, but the marble had belonged to Neeran and he didn't want to lose it.   
"Give it back."

"This worthless piece of junk?" questioned the girl staring at the marble.

Ezra suddenly clenched up and froze with fear at the girls words. They had been said to him many, many times before under seemingly similar circumstances.

"Hey, that's Ezra's Shan-Ti!" shouted Janan, snatching the marble back from the girl. Janan placed it firmly in Ezra's hand and he held it tightly.  
"Oh, look at that," sneered Shan-Ti. "You need your big 'sister' to come to your rescue."

Ja'far, Seishuun and Tilda all came over to support Ezra and Janan against the bully Shan-Ti. When Ezra didn't reply, Janan spoke up for him,  
"No he doesn't! You're just being mean to him, like you are with everyone else!"

Suddenly, two familiar older people came to help them along with three unfamiliar.  
"Defuse the situation, Janan," said Jexxel, placing a hand on her shoulder. "DTS."

Janan glanced up at Jexxel for a moment before looking back at Shan-Ti, taking a few deep breaths and...

Poked her tongue at her.

"That's not defusing the situation Janan!" exclaimed Jexxel, putting a hand over her mouth while Chopper, Ja'far, Sinbad, Bain, Sigrid, Seishuun and Tilda failed to hide snickers of laughter. Ezra anxiously looked between the two groups. 

He could see a fight was about to break out.

Shan-Ti had gone very red with embarrassment and was seething with anger. And Ezra could see that anger was directed at the mismatch group before her.

"You idiots are the strangest people ever," said Shan-Ti turning and walking away.  
"Yeah, well at least we're nice!"  
"Janan!" exclaimed Chopper.  
Janan looked at them and shrugged, "What?"

"You know Zaera," said Neeran with a sigh.  
"Oh dear," replied Zaera.  
"I have a distinct feeling that I'm in trouble when I have to go pick those kids up this afternoon."


	25. Sickness.

"Achoo!" 

Neeran head snapped up at the sound of one of her kids sneezing very loudly.   
Jexxel and Chopper were elsewhere with Shakkuri, Kyipi was still asleep and Janan was right in front of her. 

That only left one other person.

"Ezra, what's wrong?" asked Neeran coming over to him. He was clutching his arms and seemed to be shivering slightly.  
"I feel f-funny," whispered Ezra with a slight chatter.

Neeran crouched down in front of Ezra and placed her hand on his forehead. He felt very hot. Neeran then placed the backs of her fingers on Ezra's cheeks to confirm he thoughts. Ezra flinched at her touch on his cheeks but continued to shake from the cold. Kyipi then walked out of the bedroom towards them.

"You're not going to school today Ezra," said Neeran, rubbing his arms to try and keep him warm.  
"I f-f-feel cold," chattered Ezra.  
"What's wrong with Ezra?" asked Kyipi, as Shakkuri, Jexxel and Chopper entered the house

"Ezra is just very sick with a fever," replied Neeran, picking up Ezra as he continued to chatter. Shakkuri hurried off to his room to get something. When he came back, he was holding a very wooly and very warm blanket. Neeran had placed Ezra on the couch and Shakkuri tossed the warm blanket over the top of him. Ezra snuggled closer to the blanket to keep warm as Kyipi returned from the bedroom and handed him his bundle of kyipens.

"T-Thank y-you," chattered Ezra, pulling the kyipens into his chest and closing his eyes. Seeing Ezra was probably going to be unwell for a while, Neeran whistled twice and Star came to her and leapt onto her shoulder.

"Finish getting ready for school everyone. I just need to send a message to Zaera and Caine."

Neeran walked outside and gave a low, singular whistle at which Balto crawled out from under the house and sat in front of her with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"Good boy, Balto," said Neeran, patting him on the head before turning to Star.   
"Okay Star, I need you to deliver a message to Caine and Zaera."

Star nodded.

"Right. Tell them I won't be there for a while until Ezra has recovered from being sick."

Star nodded again and jumped onto Balto's back.  
"Reckon you can take Star to Caine and Zaera's cafe for me Balto?"  
Balto seemed to give her a look that said, 'What made you think otherwise?'.  
Neeran scoffed and said, "Just get going."

Balto turned and headed for Capital City with Star on his back.   
Neeran knew the message would be delivered quickly. Loth-wolves were stronger and faster than any other Loth animal, and even though Balto was only half Loth-wolf he was still stronger and faster than Loth-dogs but not as strong as a Loth-wolf.

"Mum, Ezra need you," said Jexxel opening the front door.  
"Coming," said Neeran turning around and entering the house. Once she'd entered, she went over to Ezra and asked if he was okay. Ezra said he was feeling a little better.

"Hey Neeran," said Shakkuri, tapping her on the shoulder. "I'll drop the kids off today and inform the office Ezra won't be there for a couple of days."  
"Thanks Shakkuri," said Neeran.

"See you this afternoon Mum," said Jexxel.  
"See you 'sarvie," said Chopper.  
"Bye Mum," said Janan.  
"See you guys later," said Neeran giving each of them a hug.  
"Can I go to school with them today?" asked Kyipi.  
"If you want to."  
"Yippee!" exclaimed Kyipi, jumping up with joy. "See you soon, Mum."  
Shakkuri and the others then left for school leaving Neeran and Ezra alone.

"Mummy," asked Ezra.  
"Yes?"  
"My head hurts a little and I still feel a little cold," said Ezra.  
"Believe it or not Ezra, you are actually boiling hot but it just feels cold to you," said Neeran getting up. "As for the headache, I have a solution for that."

Heading into the kitchen, Neeran reached up into one of the top most cupboards which was termed the 'Medical Cupboard'. Grabbing a bottle of Dimetapp and a medicine cup from the cupboard, Neeran measured out 2.5 mL of Dimetapp for Ezra to help with his headache. 

Putting the Dimetapp back in the cupboard, Neeran took the medicine over to him and told him it would help. Ezra sat up and hesitantly took it, suspect it wasn't what Neeran said it was, before screwing up his face like he'd just been eating a lemon.  
"That tastes terrible."

"Yeah, well it's supposed to be good for you," said Neeran.  
Ezra flopped back down on the couch and asked, "What did you say I was earlier this morning?"  
"Hmm?" asked Neeran. "Sick?"  
"Yeah," replied Ezra. "What does that mean?"

"It means you're unwell," said Neeran. "It is usually most noticeably linked with coughing, runny noses, headaches and dizziness. I guess another way to say it would be you're feeling a bit different than normal."

"Can you get over it?" asked Ezra.  
"With what you have, yes," replied Neeran. "Other sicknesses aren't so easily cured."  
"What kind of illnesses?" asked Ezra, worried that they might affect him.  
"None that really occur here Ezra," replied Neeran. "Those kinds of diseases usually come from ones parents, so you couldn't get them from someone you'd meet in the streets."

Ezra yawned widely and his eyelids suddenly became heavy.  
"If you're tired Ezra you can go back to sleep," said Neeran placing a hand on his shoulder. "It is one of the fastest ways to recover from being sick."  
"Okay," said Ezra as he yawned again and hugged Neeran.   
"I'll see you when you wake up Ezra," said Neeran, returning the hug.

Ezra broke the hug and lay back down on the couch. Neeran pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and began to stroke his hair until he finally fell asleep with a slight smile on his face.

"Hey Zach," said Neeran, once she knew Ezra was asleep, "I need to talk to you before Shakkuri and Kyipi get back."  
"What about?" asked the shimmering apparition sitting on the top of the couch back rest.  
"About a certain slave from Jex who seemed a bit too smart for his own good and somehow ended up in my care."

"I'm so screwed aren't I?"


	26. Recovery.

Over the next couple of days, Ezra began to get better. 

By Wednesday, he was no longer going through phases of feeling too hot or too cold and was able to walk around the house for a while without feeling strange. 

He even began to play with Kyipi during the day.

But whereas Ezra was getting over begin sick, Neeran was dealing with something.

Something that could affect the whole family, if it wasn't solved.

"Zach," said Neeran, when she knew Ezra and Kyipi couldn't here her.  
Zach appeared beside her but didn't say anything.  
"How did you know about Ezra?"

It had been two days since they'd even spoken to each other about Ezra's intelligence and her rescuing him on Jex. Zach was silent for a minute before saying, "He contacted me."  
"Through the Force?" asked Neeran.  
Zach nodded.

"When?"  
"Two years ago," said Zach.  
"That was six months after we met Chopper," said Neeran doing the calculations, "and a year before we met Janan."

Zach nodded, "He was calling for help when I first met him. He was in a dark room, all alone and scared, with only those blankets of his for company."  
"He was only two then wasn't he?" asked Neeran.  
"Yes, he was," said Zach. "He wanted someone to talk to, as his parents were gone and he felt lost."

"Did he ever give you a name?"  
"He called me Voice," said Zach.  
"What sort of things did he tell you when you spoke to him?"

"Anything and everything," replied Zach. "He'd tell me everything that has happened to him that day, the good and the bad. He always spoke of someone named Raptor who always help him. In turn I'd teach him how to read and write."  
"Why?"  
"Because he asked," replied Zach simply.

Their conversation was interrupted by Ezra and Kyipi bursting into laughter about something funny behind them.  
"You wouldn't guess that was the same kid," sighed Neeran, glancing over at Ezra laughing with Kyipi. "Sorry I was mad at you before."

"Apology accepted," smirked Zach, giving a light kiss on the cheek.  
"Haven't done that in a long time," said Neeran punching him light on the shoulder.  
Zach just laughed and shoved her back.

Their friendship had been healed.


	27. Unexpected Visit.

"Hey, Neeran. Just letting you know, Juan Briaxe is on the move. He's just left Jex and we think he's heading towards Lothal. We didn't find out what for though. Stay safe, Deunan and Briareos." Neeran stood on the verandah of the house and watched Jexxel, Chopper, Janan, Ezra and Kyipen play amongst the tall Lothal grass with each other. Neeran was happy for them but something was off in her mind. "Zach," whispered Neeran. "Something's wrong." "I know," replied Zach. "But what?" Neeran and Zach were scanning the tall grass when Shakkuri came out and asked, "What's wrong, Neeran?" "I'm not sure," replied Neeran, reaching for her twin pistols. "I can feel something's wrong, but I can't see what's wrong with the force." "Could it be a force-user?" asked Shakkuri, reaching for the sniper rifle sitting beside the door. "Quite possibly," replied Neeran, jumping off the verandah and walking forward into the tall grass to try and see this mysterious person or persons. Zach made himself able to touch objects and quickly scaled the verandah railing and got into the roof, still searching for the mysterious persons. Shakkuri stood on the edge of the verandah and scanned the horizon for these infiltrators. "Guys," called Neeran, trying not to let any of the concern in her voice show. "Time to come back in." "Coming!" they replied all running over to her. Suddenly, the signals through the force alerted Neeran that who or what she, Zach and Shakkuri had been looking for were right behind Jexxel, Chopper, Janan, Ezra and Kyipen. "Kids, get down!" shouted Neeran, running towards them as several figures appeared from the grass behind them. Everyone dropped to the ground as Neeran fired at the intruders, taking out three of the five who appeared. Neeran arrived at where Jexxel and Chopper were and handed them her pistols and tossed Janan her vibro-knife. "Get behind me, Ezra and Kyipi," said Neeran drawing her lightsaber as she, Jexxel, Chopper and Janan formed a circle around them. Several more figures had appeared from the grass and Neeran deflected the blaster bolts back at them knocking down at least six of them. "Get back to the house," shouted Neeran above the fighting. "Right," replied Jexxel leading the kids away from the fight. Ezra was behind the others, as he had hesitated to run, so no one saw him trip. And no one saw the female of the two leaders pick him up off the ground until it was too late. "My, my, Neeran," said the male leader. "You've lost you're edge." Neeran's eyes widened as she saw who it was who'd said that. "No way," she whispered. "Ezra!" shouted Janan and Kyipen. "We have what we came for, fall back!" exclaimed the man. "No!" shouted Neeran, trying to shoot the two leaders before they just seemed to disappear, taking Ezra with them. "No, no, no," muttered Neeran. "Who was that Neeran?" asked Shakkuri as Neeran arrived back at the house. "Who were they?" "Juan Briaxe," replied Neeran. "The man that I indirectly bought Ezra from." There was silence in the room until Zach asked the question on everyone's mind. "We getting him back?" "We'll get him back," said Neeran, checking how many rounds she had left in her pistols. "And we'll get him back soon." Ezra lay in a small dark room that seemed familiar. Ezra sat up and looked around. He began to recognise what was in the room and his heart beat quickened. "Don't be afraid, Ezra," said a figure in the dark. Ezra tried to crawl further back in the cell, but only met the wall. "No," whispered Ezra clasping the back of his neck. "Stay away. Go away." "Now, now, Ezra," said the man as his features came into view in the light. "Is that any way to talk to your old master?"


	28. A Rescue.

"Neeran," whispered Zach as they both stood on the verandah. "You know where he's been taken, don't you?"  
"Unfortunately," muttered Neeran.   
"Care to elaborate?" asked Zach after a moment of silence.  
"The Black Sun," replied Neeran. "One of our oldest enemies."

Zach sighed, "What are we going to do? You planning on taking everyone here to get him back?"  
"I'd rather not," replied Neeran. "But we may not have much of a choice."  
"I know," replied Zach. "Juan has been a problem for a long time."  
"Several thousand years too long, Zach."  
"When will we go after him?" asked Zach.  
"Tomorrow maybe, when everyone's awake. We'll probably decide from there."

Zach left go check on the kids and Neeran climbed onto the verandah railing and onto the roof. 

Standing up on the roof, Neeran pulled out her ocarina and gave it a test blow whilst heading to her favourite spot on the roof. Sitting down again, Neeran tested out a few of the keys before deciding it was fine and semi in tune. 

Far away, Neeran heard the howls of a pack of wild Loth-dogs as she began playing a very, very old song known only to a few left in the galaxy: the Ninjago Overture. 

As Neeran played the Ninjago Overture, she began formulating plans to get Ezra back; running through every possible simulation in her mind. A minute and twenty-seven seconds later as the song began to end and Neeran began to come out of her meditation state, she'd made a plan but only one other person could know about it for this plan to succeed and if they were to get Ezra back.

"Hey Zach," started Neeran once the song ended.  
"Holy Shit Neeran!" shouted Zach. "How'd you know it was me?"

Neeran chuckled for a second before saying seriously, "We're getting Ezra back. But it's just going to be you and me; no one else 'cause it's gonna be too dangerous."  
After a pause, Zach asked, "Well? What are we waiting for?"  
With that, both of them vaulted over the edge of the roof and Neeran fired up the Spectre, entering the co-ordinates for the Black Sun Outpost that she knew Ezra and Juan were at.

Below them on the verandah, Shakkuri watched them disappear in the night sky.  
"You'd both better come back with Ezra. I don't what I'd do here without you both."

"So, Neeran," started Zach, nervous about the answer he was likely to receive. "Do you have a plan for getting into and out of the Outpost?"  
"Yes," replied Neeran extending the yes and adding, "and no."  
"Called it!" exclaimed Zach throwing his hands in the air.  
"Hey!"  
"What?!" returned Zach. "We're trying to get into an Outpost of the most feared assassin and mercenary guild in the entire galaxy and you don't have a plan!"

"Hey, we're an army of two, we can take care of ourselves."  
"Yes, well in case you forgot, I'm dead!" said Zach getting louder as his sentence went on. "And Juan probably knows your 'Achilles Tendon' weakness anyway."  
"Yeah, and?"   
"And?! Neeran, he could kill you!"

"Comm, take over," said Neeran engaging autopilot and standing up to face Zach.  
"Zach," said Neeran sternly. "I know and understand that you're concerned for me, but I'm not that defenceless and you should know that better than anyone else."  
"Neeran-" 

"Don't tell me that you know. I know you do, but I'd prefer you didn't treat me like I was back then."  
Zach suddenly wrapped his arms around Neeran and whispered,  
"I'm sorry, Anika. I... I was just scared I'd lose you again."

Neeran was surprised for a moment before returning the hug and saying,  
"I'm sorry too. I just snapped I guess."

Comm interrupted them by announcing that they'd reached their destination.   
Neeran jumped back into the pilot seat and Zach became invisible to everyone else and took a seat in the co-pilots chair.

"VCX-ship class 'Spectre', please state your code and clearance number for landing clearance here."  
"Here goes," muttered Neeran. "This is Spector and my clearance code is 8488-7463-6263."  
"Neeran, that code doesn't exist anymore, you erased it," said Zach.  
"Shh," shushed Neeran. "They might hear you."

"VCX-ship class 'Spectre', please state your code and clearance number for landing clearance here," stated the young adult at the clearance desk on board the space station. 

Behind him in the middle of the room stood the tall figure of Juan Briaxe, calmly waiting for a certain multi-coloured haired teenager and her invisible partner to come along.

After a pause, the answer came through from what sounded like a teenage girl who was possible almost an adult.

"This is Spector and my clearance code is 8488-7463-6263."

"She's here," said Juan opening his eyes casually at the voice coming through the com-link.  
"Sir?" asked the young adult at the desk stopping himself from reopening the channel.

"Let the transport through," replied Juan turning whilst pulling his longish black hair into a short ponytail and heading to the exit. "A friend of mine has arrived."

"But sir, the code doesn't check out," said the man at the desk. "It' seems to have been erased from our databanks."

"Oh, the code checks out in my book," replied Juan stopping in front of the door. "She has come here for something important to her, and I intend to give it back. So, I suggest you let Neeran through or you're going to be dealing with a firefight you may not win."

With that, Juan left the bridge and headed off to meet the approaching figures.  
The young man seemed taken aback that the hero figure of Neeran might be there, but he listened to his commanding officer and replied to the incoming transport.  
"Your code checks out. Proceed to Bay 9."

"Roger that. See you then."

After a pause that seemed a little too long, the reply came through.  
"Your code checks out. Proceed to Bay 9."

"Roger that. See you then," said Neeran shutting off the communications.  
"Neeran, what the hell are you doing?" asked Zach getting a very bad feeling about what was going to happen. "I saw you erase that code and I know you're not part of the Black Sun anymore. What are you play at?"

"I'm kinda hoping that they had the same knowledge as you," replied Neeran a little sheepishly.  
"Neeran?!" exclaimed Zach. "You wanted them to know that the code was fake?"  
"It was real once," countered Neeran, preparing to land the ship. "And yes, they should have known that the code wasn't in use anymore."

"What's your plan?"  
"Right," started Neeran standing up and heading to the cargo bay. "I'm going to get Juan's attention so that he won't notice you sneak off to find Ezra."  
"Juan knows I exist Neeran, how are you going to get his attention?" replied Zach turning in the co-pilots chair.  
"Juan helped create you Zach and I'm going to challenge him, he always liked challenges."

"What kind of challenge?"  
"To the death," said Neeran, checking how many rounds were left in her guns. "Or one of us drops out."  
"But Neeran," said Zach worriedly. "If it's to the death and he gets your heart, what would the point of coming here be?"

"We'd have Ezra back," replied Neeran, jumping down the hatch to the cargo bay.  
"Touché," replied Zach following her.  
"Comm, you're landing!" shouted Neeran from the cargo hold.   
"How did you forget to instruct him that?!" exclaimed Zach.

"When you see the Invisible one of the two make sure you follow him," whispered Juan to his Apprentice Sorel. "He will be your target."

Sorel nodded and watched Neeran exit the ship.

Neeran lowered the ramp to the Spector and stepped out onto the floor of the docking bay. Zach took that opportunity to hurry across the docking bay floor and further into the Compound. 

Across from Neeran stood Juan Briaxe; his black hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail which had bangs that came down just below his jawline, and, who Neeran assumed was his Apprentice, Sorel, whose messy brown hair that wasn't even tied up out of her way. 

She almost didn't believe that this man and woman before her was someone whom she, Zach and her family had more relations to than they cared to admit.   
"Nice see you again Juan."  
"The pleasure is all mine Neeran," replied Juan bowing slightly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You know what I'm here for Juan," replied Neeran crossing her arms.  
"Oh," said Juan, mockingly slapping his forehead. "I completely forgot about the boy."  
"Bullshit Juan," replied Neeran, slowly losing her patience. "You can drop the act, I'm not as weak as I was back then."

"Ah," said Juan, bowing his head and holding up his finger to point out her flaw. "That, my dear brothers' Apprentice, is were you are wrong. As per usual."

As Juan finished his statement he pulled out his black single bladed lightsaber.  
"Oh, I see I've moved up to the black lightsaber Juan," remarked Neeran pulling out her twin blaster pistols. "I must be improving then."  
"I also see you're using blaster pistols against a Master of the Force," replied Juan.  
"Ah, that's where you forget, Juan," replied Neeran, taking a battle stance familiar to both of them. "I am also a Master of the Force, although I'm younger than you by about 34 years. You are sixty-five right?"

Juan smirked in reply and returned the stance. "To the Death?"  
"Unless one drops out."  
"Agreed."

A few moments of silence passed between them as Sorel took off down the halls after Zach before they launched at each other and the fight began.

"No...no...no...no... Aha!" exclaimed Zach coming across the correct cell. "Alright, the code is: 4964."

Zach quickly entered the code and stood in front of the door. It slide open and inside, in the far right hand corner, was the curled up form of Ezra. Zach jumped down into the cell and rushed over to Ezra.

"Ezra? Ezra, you okay?"  
Ezra gasped at the sound as though it had been shouted, even though it had been as quiet as a mouse.

"Get back. Stay away from me," whispered Ezra covering his face with his hands and curling up into a ball.  
"Ezra, it's just me, Zach, remember?"

Ezra opened his eyes and looked at Zach. Remembrance dawned on him and he jumped into Zach's open grasp and held back a strangled sob.   
"Shh, it's okay now Ezra," soothed Zach patting his back. "Neeran and I are here to get you out of here."  
"How sweet."

Zach's eyes widened as Ezra whimpered and hid his face from the female standing behind him. "God damn it."

Turning to face the female, Zach noticed that it was the Apprentice from the docking bay. It then clicked in his memory that he knew who this person was from a long time ago.

"You're Savan's sister, Savel."  
"I prefer Sorel now Shakkuri, or should I call you Zach."  
"I see you remember me, I guess that's one semi-good thing. Even though you did rat Neeran and I out," replied Zach closing his eyes in concentration for a moment.   
In his left hand appeared several small oval pellet objects and in his right hand was an activated lightsaber. Sorel descended down the stairs into the cell and Zach whispered to Ezra through their mind-link.

"Get ready to run."  
"Okay," replied Ezra following Zach as he circled around Sorel.   
Sorel saw what they were trying to do and as Ezra reached the final step, raised her hand and closed the door saying, "I don't think so."

"Too bad," replied Zach standing up from his crouched position and stretching out his left arm. "I would have loved to stay and catch up. Oh well, some other time then."

Zach dropped the first two smoke pellets in his left hand and enveloped them in smoke. Sorel began coughing violently and hacking up a lung from the smoke that filled the room and her lungs. Ezra also began coughing at first until Zach opened the door and pulled him out of the room.

"Ezra jump on," exclaimed Zach motioning for Ezra to jump onto his back. Still coughing slightly, Ezra wrapped his arms around Zach's shoulders and held on tight as Zach took off down the hallway.  
"What was that for?" asked Ezra.

"I knew Savel had asthma and that she would react to the smoke," replied Zach, rounding the corridor corner. "Don't worry, it shouldn't kill her. I left the door open as well."  
"Why?" asked Ezra.  
"Because no one really deserves to die, not even Juan and Savel."

The battle between Juan and Neeran had been raging between them for almost twenty minutes. Neeran had eventually run out of ammunition in her blasters and had switched over to her lightsaber.

Juan and Neeran broke apart from there fight and lowered their lightsaber a towards the ground. After a moment, they began circling each other slowly. Suddenly, something clicked in Neeran's mind as to where she'd seen Juan's fighting style recently. 

"You were also Kane, weren't you?"   
"Kane?" asked Juan. "Ah, yes that clone. He was another version of me. I thought you would have figure it out by now, Neeran."  
"And I don't know why it didn't," replied Neeran. "I've known that fighting style for several millennia."

After a moment, another question formed in Neeran's mind.  
"Why did you have a clone?"   
"Don't you remember?" asked Juan disbelievingly. "It was a program that the Kaminoans developed for the Jedi: Force-sensitive clones that were already trained as Jedi."

Neeran seemed to grasp another fact.  
"That's where she- they came from then. This program?"  
"For the most part," shrugged Juan. "They only ever made six. You, Zach, me, Savel, Jax and Sylvia. The six greatest force-users in the Galaxy."  
"Are you exaggerating?"

"Partially," replied Juan. "Savel's and Sylvia's are all dead from the Clone Wars. You killed mine. Only the other three are left, and they all work for the Emperor now. Mine did as well, but only as a ploy."  
"And you don't?" asked Neeran, her tail twitching agitatedly and one eye becoming a cat-slit.

"Only partially," replied Juan, sinking into a battle stance having achieved his objective with Neeran. "It's more a side job."  
Neeran's other eye became a cat-slit as Zach and Ezra the hanger bay.

"Oh crap," exclaimed Zach, dropping Ezra on the floor.  
"What's wrong?" asked Ezra looking over at Neeran.  
"Her other side's taken over Ezra," replied Zach, conjuring his lightsaber in his hand and ushering Ezra towards the ship. "Get on board and hide. We'll find you when it's all over."

Ezra ran onboard the ship and hide in the cockpit of the Spector, while Zach ran towards Neeran and shouted, "Theta! Everyone!"

Suddenly, ten AI figure flashed in front of Neeran for a moment before disappearing back into Neeran's mind. Neeran's eyes changed between cat-slits and her normal eyes for a few moments before becoming her original eyes. Zach had gotten in front of Neeran during her change and was keeping Juan occupied.

"Zach, where's Ezra?" asked Neeran coming to assist him.  
"He's safe on the ship, but we have to go," said Zach jumping over Juan's low lightsaber strike and making a break for the ship with Neeran. Zach stooped on the top of the ramp while Neeran ran into the ship and up the ladder to the cockpit. From there, Neeran spotted Savel entering the docking bay and knew it was time to go.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" exclaimed Neeran firing up the ship and blasting off into space.

Zach had switched places with Neeran on the ship and Ezra had fallen fast asleep on Neeran's lap. Neeran watched him sleep for the first time in a while peacefully with no fears crossing his mind.

"Hey Neeran," whispered Zach, breaking Neeran out of her thoughts. "That... That was a good plan."  
"Hey," replied Neeran, still cradling Ezra. "It wouldn't have been the same without you. We're an army of two remember?"

"How could I forget?" replied Zach returning to the controls. "You always have liked that song."  
"Damn straight," answered Neeran, pulling Ezra higher onto her lap. He shifted slightly on his sleep but didn't wake up.

"Hey Neeran," quietly began Zach.   
"Hmm?" asked Neeran.

"I think it's time we began his and Kyipen's training."

Neeran was silent for a moment.

"So do I."


	29. Training Begins.

"Shouldn't we go after Neeran, Zach and her kid?" asked Sorel.  
"No," replied Juan, shaking his head and smirking. "Not this time. Neeran is right where I want her to be."  
"What do you mean?" asked Sorel.  
"She will have to make a decision sometime in the not too distant future," replied Juan. "And she's not gonna like the choices."

"So let's run through this one more time," said Neeran. "What's the motto of our training?"  
"Effort, patience, moderation and respect," replied Kyipen and Ezra.

"Good," replied Neeran nodding. "Now, Kyipen, what does 'effort' mean?"  
"I means for all of us to try our hardest at everything we learn from you," replied Kyipen confidently.

"Very good. And Ezra," started Neeran. "What does 'patience' mean?"  
"It means that you and all of us need to be patient in learning something new from each other."

"What about 'moderation'?"  
"That means to have a balance between learning what your teaching and doing things we want to do," replied Ezra.

"Good. Okay Kyipen, what's 'respect'?"  
"Respect is listening to you and not distracting you or others from the task at hand," said Kyipen.

"You guys are quick learners," replied Neeran. "Soon, I may have nothing left to teach you."

Kyipen giggled and Ezra smiled at her statement.  
"However there's one more thing I need to teach you before this lesson ends, and it's very important," said Neeran. Ezra and Kyipen refocused their attention on what Neeran was about to say.

"The most important thing about what I'm going to teach you is that you must never use what you have learned on anyone else, even if they deserve it," said Neeran. "You should only use fighting if you feel threatened and they've attacked first or to protect someone important to you."

Ezra and Kyipen nodded.

"Kyipen, what do reckon would be any example of defending yourself after they've attacked you?"  
"Someone at school who is bullying you violently and pushing you around," replied Kyipen, seemingly really considering the question.

"That's a good reason," replied Neeran, much to Kyipi's delight. "And Ezra, what about if you were protecting someone important to you?" 

"If it was some I was close to, like in our family or a close friend, then maybe it would be a situation of stopping them from being bullied by someone else who wasn't a friend," Ezra sheepishly said in an almost question like voice.

"Very good Ezra," replied Neeran reassuring him his answer was fine. "That's all for today, but we'll be doing this for a little bit everyday. You can go now."

"Okay bye mum," said Kyipen running back to the house.  
"Bye," said Ezra waving slightly as he followed Kyipen.

"They're gonna grow up good kids," said Zach.  
"You think so?" asked Neeran sarcastically.

"Do you doubt us all?"  
"Some days," shrugged Neeran. "But, you always wipe the doubts shortly afterwards."  
"That's a relief," sighed Zach.  
"Most of the time," added Neeran, striding past him and towards the house.

"Yeah, okay-wait," started Zach. "What?"

Suddenly, Neeran took off.  
"Neeran?" shouted Zach. "Neeran! You a$$hole!"  
Neeran just laughed and said, "Come and get me then!"


	30. Three Years Later...

Neeran watched as seven year old Ezra sparred with five year old Kyipen. 

Being only little, Neeran was watching to make sure it was a controlled match that fourteen year old Jexxel and twelve year old Chopper were judging while nine year old Janan watched from the side lines.

Suddenly, something beeped in Neeran's mind and she activated it so that none of the kids before her could hear what it was in case it wasn't for them. 

'What is it Theta?'  
'We were all scanning the news when we came across this,' replied Theta pulling up a news paper clip in her mind. Neeran scanned it and considered what it said.  
'Reckon it's worth the risks?'   
'Probably, I don't know whether it will solve a lot of our problems though' replied Theta.

'But it could still be worth it,' replied Neeran. 'Any word from Deunan or Briareous yet?'  
'Not yet,' answered Theta. 'In fact, none of our informants have been responding lately.'  
'Then they all must be in trouble, or the Empire has gotten bigger and more dangerous where they are.' 

"Ippon, nakach," said Jexxel, awarding Ezra a full point and announcing him the winner of the match. "Well done both of you. Ezra only won by half a point."  
"I still scored a wakari," said Kyipen.

"And Ezra scored two half points, Kyipen," replied Jexxel. "So you nearly won the match."  
"Congratulations Kyipen, you're great at sparring!" congratulated Ezra. 

Ezra had grown more confident over the past three years and wasn't the shy four year old boy Neeran had met on Jex.  
"Okay guys," said Neeran. "You can have the afternoon off. I have to talk to Zach and Shakkuri about something."

Neeran was met by a chorus of okays and the five kids rushing back to the house to enjoy their afternoon off. 

"Hey Zach," said Neeran. "Reckon you could get Shakkuri for me?"  
"Already did," replied Zach, materialising beside Neeran. "Should be here any second now."

As if on cue, Shakkuri walked out from around the corner of the house, wiping his hands clean of whatever had gotten on them from doing maintenance on the Spectre.

"What do you need us for?" asked Shakkuri, stuffing the rag in his back pocket.  
"Theta found us a 'job'," said Neeran, pulling up Theta to display the news clipping.  
Shakkuri and Zach read through the holographic image before them and Shakkuri asked, "Who's going on this one?"

"Oh, not objecting to the idea?" asked Neeran, raising a quizzical eyebrow.  
Zach rolled his eyes and asked, "You're sending everyone aren't you?"  
"Yeah, it seems easy enough."

"Don't jinx it Neeran!" shouted Zach and Shakkuri.  
"What?" asked Neeran shrugging her shoulders.  
"You have a record of bad luck with these sorts of things and kids that dates back to when you first started this kind of stuff," stated Theta.

"Shut up Theta," said Neeran, blushing at the memories of her failed attempts of missions with kids. "Not all of them ended badly."  
"Name one Neeran," replied Theta, crossing his arms.  
"Ah... Umm...," hummed Neeran. "Clone Wars?"  
"Which part?"

"After the Ring."  
"Even then, stuff still went wrong," replied Theta.  
Neeran hung her head and sighed, "I suck at this, don't I?"

"Yep."  
"Pretty much," added Shakkuri.  
"Hey, at least I rescued you!"  
"That's only a slight improvement though," added Zach and Theta nodded.

"Then it's settled," concluded Neeran.   
"What's settled?!" exclaimed Zach, Shakkuri and Theta.

"Tomorrow, we're going on a mission."


	31. An Operation Begins.

You could almost say the operation was doomed to failure before it had even begun. 

Juan had plotted out his moves for the impending battles ahead and was just waiting for Neeran to make her moves. He'd always been one step ahead of her, even if he didn't need plan it out thoroughly.

And this operation was going to be entertaining to watch.

"Okay, everyone understand the plan?" asked Neeran.  
"So basically, we're just going to go in there, stealing a bunch of crates, taking them to the extraction point five clicks west of here and then disappearing like nothing ever happened?" clarified Zach, counting the points on his fingers.

"Yeah. Pretty much," nodded Neeran.  
"No little details missed out this time?" asked Zach, quizzically raising an eyebrow.  
"None that I can think of."  
Zach glanced over at Shakkuri and signalled, 'What do you wanna bet she's forgotten something?'  
Shakkuri smiled and held up five fingers on one hand and his fist for the other.  
'50?' questioned Zach, before smiling and signalling, 'You're on!'  
"You guys are assholes," muttered Neeran. "You know that?"

Both Zach and Shakkuri gave Neeran a look that said 'Of course we know that.'

Neeran sighed and rolled her eyes at their antics before turning back to one of the main roads of the Capitol City. Neeran raised her left hand up with her thumb and first two fingers up. Once her hand was fully raised, Neeran dropped her two fingers onto her palm, leaving her thumb out, and five more figures dropped into the alleyway that Neeran, Shakkuri and Zach were in.

"Jexxel, Chopper, you're going in from the west. Zach and Janan, you're the south. Shakkuri and Kyipen, you're the east, and Ezra and I are the north," said Neeran. "Meet five clicks west as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded and slipped off into the darkness while Neeran and Ezra remained in the alley.  
"Remember how to disable a security system?" asked Neeran. Ezra nodded and Neeran added, "That's your job, as well as getting your crates. I'll distract them."

Ezra disappeared into the darkness of the alley and Neeran sensed through the Force that he was at the wall of the complex. Neeran listened to the Force as she watched everyone's movements across the complex. 

Chopper and Jexxel's team and Shakkuri and Kyipen's team was in, and Zach and Janan would be in any second. However, what interested her the most was the amount of guards in the north where they were. 

'Neeran, Ezra has disabled the security systems,' said Theta in her mind.  
'Domo,' replied Neeran, moving towards the complex. 

Spotting Ezra, Neeran headed over to the part of the wall where he was and Force Jumped up to where he was. They both crouched side by side as they watched the stormtroopers patrol the area before them. 

"There's more than there should be," observed Ezra. "Something's not right."  
"It's like they were expecting us," added Neeran.   
Ezra nodded at her comment as Neeran said, "Once you're done, take the crates two clicks west and wait for me."

Ezra nodded as Neeran signalled for him the take the right and that she was going to circle around on the left and meet him on the outside of the complex when he was done.

'3, 2, 1, go,' signalled Neeran, as she counted down to zero and they went their separate ways around the stormtroopers.

Neeran easily slipped through the defences of the complex and made it to where she wanted to be.  
"Bingo!" exclaimed Neeran. "Just what I need."

Using the Force, Neeran moved several of the explosive crates aside and arranged a circle of eight explosives and one in the middle.  
"That'll go boom, if needed."

Neeran moved the explosive containers back into place and then felt through the Force to see where everyone was. 

Zach, Kyipen, Shakkuri and Janan had finished and were out of the complex, having raised no alarms. Jexxel, Chopper and Ezra were almost finished and were just dodging the last of the patrols.  
"Time to get this party started," giggled Neeran as she tiptoed into the control room and found it unoccupied.

"Well, that sucked," pouted Neeran, putting her hands on her hips. "Time for plan B with parts of plan A. Plan A.5B."  
"You just made that up then," said Theta appearing beside her head.

"Yeah," nodded Neeran enthusiastically. "Alright, you guys get what we came for."  
"Right," replied all the A.I as the scattered into separate computer terminals. As the scanned the systems for the information needed, Neeran walked over to the main terminal and quickly scanning the complex grounds to see where everyone was.

"Good, they're all out," said Neeran, before smiling wickedly and rubbing her hands together. "Time for the show."  
Neeran cleared her throat as she activated the com-system throughout the complex and said,  
"Is this thing on? Oh wait, it is on! Sorry about that, but we appear to have an intrusion for all sides of the complex. We're not quite sure how many, but they're everywhere."

Neeran felt all the A.I's return to their chips and wrapped it up.  
"So, yeah, watch out!"  
Neeran turned the com off and then immediately turned it back on to hear their reply.

"Bloody newbies." groaned one.  
"Let's go find these 'intruders'," said another sarcastically.  
Neeran turned off the com and began laughing hard whilst walking out of the control room. 

Once she was out, Neeran slipped quickly and quietly back to the wall surrounding the complex and watched the stormtroopers dart around like ants.  
"I could watch this all night," sighed Neeran.

"Neeran, what time were we supposed to get back to the other?" asked Theta.  
Neeran glanced at her watch and then exclaimed, "Ah, crap! We're late! We gotta go!"

Neeran jumped off the wall and sprinted back to where the others were supposed the meet, all the while with a nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

Neeran was late. 

Ezra had arrived with his crates at their designated point where they were to have met and disappeared. Jexxel and Chopper had met up with him and taken his crates while he'd stayed and was watching for Neeran. 

When she still didn't show, Ezra went back to the complex to see if he could spot her. 

As he remained perched on the wall around the complex, Ezra began to scan his eyes across the complex when suddenly his vision changed and he could tell who was in the complex and where. 

Ezra groaned and clutched his head.

"Not again," he whispered the himself. "Go away."

The changed that had just occurred within him disappeared and Ezra sighed. 

Jumping off the wall, Ezra landed on the ground and scurried behind the closest form of cover. Ezra slipped between the shipping containers silently, searching for any clues to where Neeran might be within the complex and not hearing the Force warnings going off in his head, alerting him to danger nearby.

Suddenly, someone grabbed the collar of Ezra's jumpsuit and hoisted him up into the air.

"Hey, lemme go!" shouted Ezra before he was turned around and came face to face with a stormtroopers' helmet and his two buddies aiming primed blasters at him.

Ezra's courage faltered for mere seconds as his mind raced to thoughts about his days as a slave and a scene a few months ago where a Trandoshan merchant had been shot for disobeying the Empire.

Footsteps of someone approaching the four of them seemed to echo in Ezra's mind as the figure appeared into view.

The Inquisitor looked over towards the figure of a smallish seven year old boy with a dark coloured ponytail dangling from the grasp of a stormtrooper with his hands reaching up and clasping the troopers' hands and a look of fear and shock. 

The stormtroopers glanced over at their leader and the one holding Ezra said, "We found this boy snooping around the base, sir."

The two troopers beside the leader had come to attention facing the Inquisitor while the leader had turned to face the Inquisitor and held Ezra out towards him.   
Ezra tried to wriggle out of the troopers grip and avoided looking up at the Inquisitor. 

But the Inquisitor had seen what he'd needed to see.

"There's something different about you, child," said the Inquisitor. 

Ezra froze, feeling something squirm against his stomach and his ear twitch slightly under the hair that covered them and went back into his small ponytail, fearing the worse had come to pass.

"You're not human."


	32. An Op Gone Wrong.

Something was off. 

Ezra should have returned to the extraction point.

And the man she'd done the deal with would be coming any minute now. 

"You guys head back, I'm staying here a little longer," said Neeran, before telepathically adding for Zach and Shakkuri, 'Zach, I need you to stay here. Shakkuri, take everyone home.'

Shakkuri and Zach nodded, and Zach disappeared as Shakkuri led the rest of the children away. Once Shakkuri and the others were out of earshot, Zach reverted back to his transparent form and asked, "Why do you need me?"

"You can still become a solid and non-see-through-able apparition, can't you?"   
"Yeah, but only for a short while. The usual."  
"Good," replied Neeran, facing Zach again. "I need you to make the deal here. I'm going to go find Ezra."  
"Alone?"

Neeran nodded and began to walk across the plain towards Capitol City and the Imperial complex.

"And alone she shall be," added Zach to himself as a ship could be heard from over head. Turning around to face it, Zach watched the ship belonging to one of his most distrusted people in the universe.

The ramp to the ship lowered and out stepped Chikatro Vizago followed by his droids.

"Vizago," growled Zach, folding his arms across his chest.  
"Ah, young man, you haven't by any chance seen a girl by the name of Neeran around here, have you?" asked Vizago charismatically.  
"She just left to fix somethings up," replied Zach, his arms still folded against his chest.

"Ah, I see," replied Vizago. "And what about her excuse of a family? That apparition, the other adult and the kids?"  
"They're all back at their house," said Zach trough gritted teeth. "I'm making the delivery for them. I'm a close friend of theirs, so pay up what you owe."  
"But first, I need to check the merchandise," said Vizago, looking through the crates to make sure that what he'd been promised was in there. Zach sighed and watched. 

This was going to be a long wait.

A figure with thin cat-slits within their multi-coloured eyes, jumped off the wall surrounding the complex and knocked the two stormtroopers standing before her to the ground, twirling her twin vibro-daggers in her hands and driving them through the stormtroopers' throats, just to make sure that they didn't raise the alarm. 

The figures' black tail thrashed wildly behind her as she stood up whilst removing the daggers and flicking them sideways to remove some of the blood before sheathing them in their sheaths behind her.

The figure said nothing as she crept silently across the complex grounds until she stood in the middle of the complex field. Once she was there, she removed a small detonator from her back pocket and pressed the detonation button.

Three explosions sounded across the complex grounds, knocking many of the nearby stormtroopers to the ground. The explosives where Neeran had placed hers were the biggest and drew the most attention of the stormtroopers, just as Neeran had wanted.

About a dozen stormtroopers arrived to the biggest explosion first and before them, they saw the silhouetted figure of a teenage looking girl with wild, spiky hair, a dark coloured tail and glowing multi-coloured eyes. 

The stormtroopers' raised their blasters and were about to open fire when the figure focused their eyes directly on them and their blasters flew straight out of the hands and over to the figure.

"Tell me where to find the Inquisitor," demanded Neeran, sounding as though all traces of sanity in her were gone. "And I won't kill you. Probably."

Neeran then raised her hand and clenched her fist which crushed the blaster rifles that she'd removed from the stormtroopers facing her into crumpled fragments of what they'd once been as she let them clatter to the ground, causing all of the troopers she'd taken the blasters from to take several steps backwards.

She wasn't anything like they'd faced before.

The sound of soft but deliberate footsteps to her left, alerted her to the fact that a certain someone was approaching.

And that someone was going to pay. 

"So you're here," said Neeran in a eerie and seemingly calm voice as she turned to face the man she had once known and needed to talk to. 

There was a silence between them before the Inquisitor said, "You disappeared for seven years. Why come back now? Is there something you've found worth doing? Or are you planning on joining the Empire and saving yourself the pain of always being on the run?" 

Neeran didn't reply at first. She just stood there and watched the Inquisitor take a few steps forward and the stormtroopers' encircle them.

"That doesn't seem like the way you'd get someone to come with you -especially after you've stolen something important to them."

After that, there was silence on the grounds of the complex as Neeran and the Inquisitor just stared at each other. 

"Where is he?"   
"You mean the boy?"   
"Yes," came the blunt reply, with a slight trace of venom in it. "Where have you taken him?"   
"Right here," said the Inquisitor, moving aside so that Neeran could see the boy behind him being held two stormtroopers'.

Most people would have flinched or try to reach out for Ezra, but Neeran remained motionless. She'd been through too many situations like this to know something was about to go wrong or happen. 

"What do you want from me?" asked Neeran cautiously, furrowing her eyebrows.   
"For you to come join us in tacking down the last remnants of the Jedi."  
"That won't be happening, Inquisitor," replied Neeran, shaking her head. "You've all done far too much killing in these last seven years. And I've heard every single voice of every single person your 'Empire' has killed call out to me in the hope of being saved."

There was a brief moment of silence. 

"And I couldn't do a god-damn thing about it." 

"Then we have no choice," replied the Inquisitor, raising his hand to signal the stormtroopers' to attack her. 

"You never did," replied Neeran, remaining where she was a several stormtroopers' moved closer. 

The first of the troopers began to move in while Neeran stayed as she was until they were moments away from shooting her.

Then, she reacted. 

Dodging the blaster fire from the first wave by jumping over the stormtroopers' heads, Neeran drew her bloodstained vibro-daggers as she dropped back towards the ground and resumed the fight.

As she landed from the fall, Neeran sliced the eight troopers' surrounding her in a multitude of places which ended with them either dead or so severally injured that they couldn't harm her.

But Neeran didn't stop there. 

The next wave had slowed slightly but Neeran wasn't deterred by their lack of commitment in trying to get rid of her. 

No one had tried in a long time, at least, not since the final days of the Sith Wars in the long and exhausting battles that occurred throughout the period termed in history as 'The Battle of Ruusan'. 

Neeran stood up straight and waited for them to approach closer the her.

With slightly tentative steps, the next wave arrived and as quickly as Neeran had dispatched the first lot of troopers, Neeran had taken all of the second and nearby third wave of stormtroopers' out leaving very few of the attackers alive to harm her or anyone else.

This would have impressed most people to see someone take out that many opponents in one go, but what surprised the remaining stormtroopers' who hadn't attacked her was the fact that she'd done most of it with only the use of two vibro-daggers, which would have been considered a stupid choice of weapon against troopers' with blasters. 

As the stormtroopers' lay on the ground, either motionless or groaning in pain, Neeran turned to face Ezra and the Inquisitor whilst drawing out her lightsaber. 

"What are your terms for surrender?" asked Neeran, holding the lightsaber by her side with only the twitch of her hand needed to ignite it. "Because if they're what I think they are, I agreed." 

There was a moment of surprise amongst the gathered Imperials, but Neeran wasn't finished yet.   
"However, Ezra has to go free."   
"Do you agree?" 

"Why would you be willing to accept terms of surrender after you've killed quite a few of these men?" asked the Inquisitor. 

"I didn't see you going to help them when they fought against me," replied Neeran, emotionlessly. "And you wanted me, not Ezra, in the first place anyway, didn't you?" 

Neeran then closed her eyes for a moment, holstering her lightsaber on her belt, and then opened them again, whilst raising her left hand and pushing the two stormtroopers' holding Ezra away and calling Ezra over to her with the Force. 

"Ezra," whispered Neeran, crouching down to his height and whispering in his ear whilst not breaking eye contact with the Inquisitor.   
"You need to run to Shakkuri and home okay?"

"What about you?" asked Ezra, feeling scared and useless again.  
"I'll be right behind you, don't worry," replied Neeran, soothingly. "But you need to run now."

Ezra nodded.

Neeran stood up and moved Ezra behind her.

"Go," she whispered, breaking gaze with the Inquisitor to give Ezra a comforting look.

And after a moment's hesitation, Ezra turned and ran, and Neeran turned to face her own chosen fate. 

Knowing Ezra was out of earshot, Neeran said,  
"Well, looks like I could go with you after all."


	33. Where She Came From.

Neeran sat cross-legged in the corner of the ship that the Imperials were using to transport her to wherever they were going on Lothal. 

Even with her hands cuffed together and limiting her Force abilities, only slightly though, Neeran could still find a way to entertain herself. It involved Fire, Air, Water and Earth; the Four Elements. Clicking her fingers every few seconds, Neeran was creating tiny tornadoes of the Four Elements. 

Suddenly, the current four in front of her spun out of control and combined together into like a mini super tornado.

"Oh, sweet!" exclaimed Neeran, unknown to the Imperials that it was helping her formulate a plan of escape.   
"Hey, Theta, Everyone, did you see that? That was so cool!"

The Inquisitor left the cockpit in front of the airship and went back in time to see ten A.I figures appear in front of her and spark up in replies of 'Cool', 'Awesome' and 'Wow'.

'She has A.I's," thought the Inquisitor. 'They've never been given to a person individually since about the Sith Wars and she has ten of them! How has she not been driven insane?!"

"These guys were around long before the Sith Wars you're thinking of," replied Neeran, glancing side ways over at the Inquisitor. "In fact, these ten before have been around longer than most A.I's have been known to be in existence in this galaxy at least."

The shocked look on the Inquisitors face then proceeded to send Neeran into a fit of laughter.

"You know guys," said Neeran, trying to stop laughing. "It never ceases to amaze me of how many people don't expect others to hear their thoughts."  
"It is quite a usual Jedi and Sith mind trick though," replied Theta.

A couple of storm troopers seemed a bit distressed at that piece of information but a few of them snickered quietly.  
"Oh, hey Cody, Jag, Neyo, haven't seen you three in about seven years. How ya been?"

The soldiers who had been snickering stopped and stared at her through their soulless helmets. 

"Don't have to be that sensitive about it," pouted Neeran. The ten A.I's blinked and flashed off, back into Neeran's mind.   
"It was just a question."

"What's happened to Neeran and Ezra?" asked Kyipen, looking up at Shakkuri.   
"I don't know Kyipi," replied Shakkuri placing a hand on Kyipen's head. "They should be back soon though." 

Suddenly, Ezra burst through the door and exclaimed, "Neeran got captured!"   
"What happened?" asked Chopper, running over to Ezra who nearly collapsed on the floor.

"I was taken by surprise by the Inquisitor and captured," started Ezra, trying to catch his breath at the same time. "Neeran came to get me out of there, but it was all a set up and they got her. She told me to run here to Shakkuri and everyone else."   
"We have to save her," said Ezra he added after a few moments and when he finally had his breath back.

There was a chorus of agreement before Zach stopped them all with a simple answer.

"No."

There was silence as Zach continued.

"Neeran's been alive longer than most of you know, she won't need saving. We'd only get in the way."  
"But, the Imperials got her," exclaimed Ezra. "I know she's strong but we could help, we could all save her-"

"And how do you think I died all those years ago, Ezra?!" snapped Zach. "I was trying to save her to and I got caught in the cross-fire!"

Everyone except Shakkuri was taken aback. They'd all been told Zach had been killed in a battle on Earth when he and Neeran were teenage soldiers and team mates together in the battle while they were in the military and Neeran's Jedi Master Jax had bought him back as the ghostly apparition he was today. 

Only Neeran, Zach and Shakkuri knew the whole truth though.

"Zach," muttered Shakkuri. "Are you sure you should be telling them that without Neeran here?"  
"You know?" exclaimed Janan.  
"I've know for nearly thirteen years Janan," replied Shakkuri. "Back around the time I became Neeran's Padawan. It was one of the first battles on Ryloth, right Zach?"

"Correct, Hiccup," replied Zach.  
"Who's Hiccup?" asked Chopper.  
"It's my actual name," replied Shakkuri. "We changed it to Shakkuri about seven years ago when the Empire took over. Shakkuri means Hiccup in Japanese, one of the Ancient Languages Neeran knows from when she was on Earth. You'd recognise it from sparring in karate training."

Everyone was silent as they comprehended this.

"But what about the battle you supposedly died in and Master Jax bringing you back?" asked Kyipen.  
"That story is only partly true," replied Zach, hanging his head in memory and sadness. "Yes, I died in a battle almost 26,000 years ago and yes, I was bought back to life with an ancient technique Jax created, but that is about where the similarities end. The 'battle' was a fire fight between some soldiers at the base we had trained at and me bring resurrected was by Neeran about a month after I'd died after she found and stole the method from Jax's technique journal and attempted to bring me back." 

"So, you've all been lying to us ever since we came here?" asked Jexxel. 

There was silence between everyone in the room. Everyone had different thoughts in their heads about the information that they'd just received. 

Suddenly, Ezra took off out of the open front door of the house and into the night. 

"Ezra, wait up!" shouted Jexxel, following him out of the house with Chopper, Janan and Kyipen at her heels. 

"That probably wasn't the best time or place to tell them that Zach."  
"They were going to find out in the end anyway," replied Zach. "They're probably off to find Neeran and see if the story is true." 

"Aren't they in for a shock."  
"You could say that again, Shakkuri. You could say that again."

"And you owe me fifty bucks Zach!"


	34. Captured.

The door in front of Neeran opened and she glanced up slightly. 

"Oh, it's you," she said, directing her gaze back to the floor. She had no interest in talking to the figure who'd just entered.   
"That doesn't seem like a good way to talk to your captors," said the Inquisitor.  
"Captors?" said Neeran, raising an eyebrow. "You're all probably the worst captors I've ever encountered. And I've encountered quite a few terrible captors, might I add." 

"Feisty," said the Inquisitor. "Even your memories show you as a rebellious person."  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Neeran, nonchalantly. "So what you know I've got a rebellious streak or my favourite colour is orange or I like the numbers 3, 7, 9, 32, 49, 64 and 99..." 

Neeran sensed that the Inquisitor was growing impatient from her random ranting. 

"But you know nothing," said Neeran, becoming serious again. "Nothing about what it's like to live as long as I have."   
"Really?" asked the Inquisitor, taken slightly by surprise at her sudden change in tone. "I may know more than you think."  
"Yeah?" replied Neeran, raising an eyebrow. "Well, what happened during the Sith Wars?"

The Inquisitor furrowed his brow and seemed the decide whether or not to answer. But Neeran already knew his answer and smirked.

"That's only what they teach," said Neeran. "But it's nothing compared to what actually happened."  
"And you would know what really happened?" asked the Inquisitor, not expecting an answer.  
"You Imperials are all stuck up bastards, dattebayo," said Neeran, shaking her head. "If you or anyone else had ever read the Temple records you'd know that I was around long before the Sith Wars, so of course I was in them!"

Then Neeran muttered, "It was one of the worst situations I've been involved in."  
"You don't seem to be lying," said the Inquisitor, looking her up and down. "But I don't quite believe your story."

"No one ever does," replied Neeran, shrugging. "Especially when I tell my true age."  
'How does she seem to know all this? How old is she?' wondered the Inquisitor. 'She doesn't seem much older than fifteen, so how could she know?'

"40,805," said Neeran, anger clearly audible in her voice. "It's nothing to be proud of."

"No matter what people think, it's bullshit," continued Neeran, when the Inquisitor didn't reply. "You see so many things that you wouldn't normally in a human or any other species' lifetimes and you can't erase, or change any of it, and too many faces-"

Neeran stopped speaking as she reached the part about the faces. It struck her almost too deep to bear. She herself had seen many faces; each with their own individual stories and lives to live, cut short by meeting her and other circumstances beyond anything she had, or could have had, control over. 

Neeran whispered the next part so quietly the Inquisitor almost missed it.  
"You can never forget."

"I've probably said too much for my own sanity," said Neeran bitterly in the silence of the room, not knowing that on the planet below, five children were already planning her rescue.

"Is this the right shipment Jexxel?" asked Ezra.  
"I sure as hell hope so Ezra," replied Jexxel, rechecking the data-pad for the ninth time. "Otherwise, Janan accessed the wrong file."

"It's not the wrong file Jexxel," replied Janan. "Nothing can break my access codes in current Imperial circulation. It's fool-proof!"  
"Guys, hide!" hissed Chopper, pulling Kyipen down behind a stack of crates. The others ducked out of sight as two troopers walked around the corner.

"So we're taking all these crates up to that cruiser with the Jedi?" asked one.  
"Yes!" replied the other exasperated. "I told you that already. Jeez, you're an idiot."  
"Just clarifying," said the other.

"That the proof you needed?" asked Jexxel, indicating to the troopers before telling everyone else.  
"These are the crates we want, so let's go!"  
Ezra and Kyipen hopped into one, Janan in another, Chopper in a different one and Jexxel in a different one again. 

"Told you so," said Janan.

"Shut up Janan!" returned Jexxel and Chopper.


	35. Break In.

"We are going to be in so much shit when Neeran discovers that the kids went after her," groaned Shakkuri.   
"What are you complaining about?! I'm gonna receive the worst of it!" said Zach.  
"You're the idiot who told them about that certain topic we weren't supposed to mention!"  
"Well, it seemed appropriate at the time," said Zach.

"Are you okay, sir?" asked a nearby Ithorian pedestrian. "Do you have schizophrenia?"  
"I'm just having a very bad day," assured Shakkuri, forgetting that only he could see Zach on the mostly empty street. "I'm fine though."  
"Oh, good evening then."  
"Bye," said Shakkuri and added to Zach, "Should I have told him that there's more to schizophrenia than talking to yourself?"

"It would have just made our job longer and we've gotta find those five," said Zach turning to face elsewhere on the street trying to find the five kids of their family.  
Suddenly, Shakkuri and Zach felt the Force signal them something. Their heads snapped up in unison at the Imperial ship leaving the landing platform for the ship in low orbit.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," groaned Zach and Shakkuri practically in unison. Zach and Shakkuri were both surprised for a moment before Shakkuri sighed and softly face-palmed, "I've known you way too long to get that."  
"Only about 11 years," replied Zach. "And we're going to need a ship and one very damn good explanation."

Ezra peered out of the crate that he and Kyipen had hidden in to see if any of the stormtroopers' on board the ship had come to check the cargo hold that they were hiding.

When he saw none, he and Kyipen slipped out of the crate to join the other three who were elsewhere in the hull. 

Silently, they all met at the access panel on the wall of the hull as Janan and Jexxel accessed the ships' manifest.

"We should be arriving in 5 minutes," informed Jexxel after scanning through the incoming files.  
"Where are we landing through?" asked Chopper.  
"Exactly where we wanted them to," replied Jexxel.   
"Two minutes to arrival," said Kyipen, reading the panel on the wall.  
"Everyone ready?"

Four nodding heads and the raising of several weapons confirmed Jexxel's question.  
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1." 

"You might want to head down to hanger bay 13," said Neeran casually to the Inquisitor as she lent against the wall in the back of the cell.

The Inquisitor raised an eyebrow in a quizzical gesture at Neerans' sudden out-speak since the pervious days sudden out burst. "Why should I believe you? It could easily be a trap."

"Possible, but the five children in that hanger bay may convince you otherwise," replied Neeran with a shrug. "And besides, it may give your guys back home a reason to send out an Imperial team to deal with a double murder case back on Lothal. Even though one of the murders will be of an invisible being who has already been dead for as long as I've been alive in this form."

The intercom came to life and an officer on the command deck said, "We've been intruded in hanger bay 13. All units converge."  
The Inquisitor turned and left with his com-link and Neeran smirked.  
"Called it. It's them."

But what Neeran didn't hear, was the Inquisitor giving an order to the commanding deck officer who just announced the deck intrusion.   
"Officer, prepare to jump to Mustafar."

"How could you be so stupid to trip the fricking alarm Chopper?!" shouted Jexxel as the five of them raced down the interior halls of the Imperial cruiser.  
"It's not my fault," replied Chopper turning and gunning down three of the pursuing stormtroopers'.

"You were the best soldier your age at that compound, how could you muck up that badly?!" explained Jexxel as she also gunned down two more of the pursuing troopers'.  
"I haven't exactly been on many missions recently," said Chopper as the five of them rounded the corridor corner and took cover behind the bulk wards.

Janan, Ezra and Jexxel were on one side and Chopper and Kyipi were on the other, each taking turns at shooting down incoming troopers until a small problem occurred. Chopper spotted it first as he turned to fire.

"Jexxel, we have a problem."  
"I thought we already did?"  
"Well it just got exponentially worst!"  
"What are you-" started Jexxel as she turned to fire and saw what he was talking about.   
"Give me a break!"  
"We've gotta move," said Janan. 

Chopper was one step ahead in planning and had signaled Kyipen to run to the other while he took pot-shots at the figure.  
"At least it's not Juan!" said Chopper as Jexxel and Janan covered his escape to their side of the hallway.  
"Just as bad!" replied Ezra.   
"You said it," said Janan as she took cover behind Jexxel.  
"Let's move before he catches up," said Jexxel heading down the hallway they were standing in front of. "The last thing we need on our tails is an Inquisitor."

"Something tells me that my plan isn't going to work," said Neeran as she stood up and placed her hand on the wall where the control panel for the cell was.   
Her hand glowed for a second before the door opened.  
"Thanks Theta," said Neeran as she exited the cell she was in only to be greeted by a voice she hadn't expected to be so cheerful. 

Or so exhausted.

"Neeran!" shouted Ezra.

Neeran stood in the middle of the prison compound hallway with a stunned expression on her face.  
"What's wrong?" asked Janan.  
"I kinda half-expected you guys to get captured," said Neeran. "I had a plan to get out of here if you did. Oh well, improvisation!"

As Neeran finished her sentence, she flung her right hand forward over the heads of the five kids in front of her and knocked the several approaching stormtroopers' back down the hallway they'd just come from after them.

"Come on, we gotta move," said Neeran turning and running down the hallway.

Suddenly elsewhere, the view out over the ship changed to that of a ship moving through hyperspace.

"Oh shit!" shouted Neeran as she felt the thoughts of an Imperial become hers.   
"What?" cried everyone else.  
"We just jumped into hyperspace!" replied Neeran. "And I don't have a ship to get us out of here or the knowledge of where we're going!"

"So..."

"So, we're stuck on a Imperial cruiser heading who knows where to do who know what with no way of getting back home! Simple enough for you?"


	36. What Now?

"What do we do now?" asked Janan.  
"Now, we have gotta find a way out of here," said Neeran trying to come up with a plan to get everyone out of there without killing any of them.

"Can you find her?" asked Shakkuri, once they'd cleared the Lothal atmosphere.   
"No," replied Zach, reaching out to find Neeran's Force signature.

'Maybe they're in hyperspace,' suggested Comm. 'The Imperial Channels indicate that the cruiser above Lothal just left for Mustafar.'

"That's never good," said Shakkuri. "But it's probably her."  
"Found her!" exclaimed Zach. "Comm, set a course for Mustafar. That's where they all are."

"You have got to be kidding," groaned Shakkuri. "Of all the places for them to end up."  
"Better than Coruscant," said Zach taking the co-pilot seat.

"I'll give you that," said Shakkuri as the view changed to hyperspace and they were off.  
"Let's hope we get there in time," said Zach.

However, aboard the cruiser that Neeran and the five kids were on, it was a different story.

"Zach."

"What?" asked Jexxel.  
"Come on, we need to get to the hanger," said Neeran, running down the hallway and trying to connect with Zach.

"Crap, he must be in hyperspace."  
"What do you mean 'Zach'?" asked Chopper.

"They're coming here with the Spectre, thus providing us a ticket out of here!" replied Neeran.  
"Left, right, left, bingo!"

However, Neeran's luck was not to last aboard the Imperial cruiser.

"Crap!" 

In the middle of the hanger stood the Inquisitor.

Neeran, quite loudly, cursed.  
"Damn it. Damn it! God-fucking-damn-it!!"

"We were so close!"


	37. Break Out.

The Inquisitor stood opposite Neeran.

"You're not who you say you are, aren't you?" said Neeran, clicking in her mind that she actually, vaguely, knew the Inquisitor before her. "Jakaen Jaiina."

The Inquisitor halted for a moment as a question plagued his mind.   
"How did you know that?"

"You're an ex-Temple head guard, so of course I know who you are," said Neeran, cursing herself mentally for not seeing it sooner. "Even then you didn't like me. But the 'me' you hated the most wasn't actually me at all."

A confused look crossed the Inquisitor's face as he and Neeran continued to just simply stand there and stare at each other.

"I was rarely ever at the Temple, Jakaen," said Neeran. "I practically left the Jedi Order until the Purge on Empire Day. And then, I was gone again like the ninja I've always been. Ahh~, sort of." 

Neeran folded her arms across her chest as the Inquisitor drew his lightsaber and activated it.

"If a Jedi ignites his lightsaber, he must be ready to take a life. If he is not so prepared, he must keep his weapon at his side," said Neeran as she side stepped and ducked under all of the Inquisitors strikes to her without drawing a weapon of her own.

They broke apart and Neeran re-folded her arms across her chest.

"Hence why I haven't drawn my lightsaber or any other weapon. That was Master Odan-Urr's thoughts on a Jedi fighting many thousands of years ago, but they still apply now." 

"And besides," added Neeran, raising her left hand and flicking across causing all of the troopers and the Inquisitor to be flung across the hull. "I was only stalling!"

Behind where the Inquisitor was standing, Neeran had seen the Specter approaching the Cruiser hanger bay they were standing in.

"Everyone, get on board!" shouted Neeran as the ship landed before them and Shakkuri emerged to help Neeran if she needed it. Once everyone was aboard, Shakkuri closed the door and Zach took off into the outside space.  
Neeran raced into the cockpit to help Zach get them out of there, while the Inquisitor in the hanger behind them ordered the Command Crew,

"Fire on the ship exiting the main hanger!"  
"Yes, sir!" was the reply.

In the Specter's cockpit, Comm was entering the hyperspace co-ordinates into the Navi-computer whilst Zach dodged the blaster fire coming from cruiser and Neeran ordered everyone to their battle stations. Comm then beeped the response Neeran was listening for.

"Hello, hyperspace," said Neeran as she pushed the lever to activate the hyperdrive for a jump.   
"Thanks Zach," said Neeran collapsing into the co-pilot seat.  
"So, you're not going to kill Shakkuri and I?" 

"I may do that anyway," replied Neeran whilst still breathing hard with her eyes still closed. "You took your time."  
"We had to figure out where you were," replied Zach setting the ship to autopilot. 

"Can't do that while you were in hyperspace."  
"Touché," said Neeran having regained some of her breath as the door to the cockpit opened and five figures entered.

"Neeran, we need to ask you something," started Jexxel.  
"Am I to be concerned with what you're asking?" replied Neeran nonchalantly, not looking over at them to read their body language and relaxing back in her chair.  
"Probably," muttered Zach as he turned back to the controls after seeing their body language and knowing full well what they were about to ask her.  
Neeran snapped her eyes open and slowly sat up from her relaxed position in the co-pilots chair.

"Zach."

Zach visible shuddered under Neeran's gaze.  
"What did you tell them?"

There was dead silence in the cockpit.

"Your stunned silence is very reassuring."

Shakkuri had felt something was wrong and had poked his head up into the cockpit from the ladder to the hull. Seeing the scene before him, he sensed he should have just stayed elsewhere.

"You didn't tell them that, did you?" fear creeping into Neerans' voice.

"Part of."  
"How much?"

Zach turned his head to face the other way from where Neeran was sitting and didn't say anything to her, not wanting the conversation to continue.

"How much Zach?!" shouted Neeran, anger very evident in her voice.

"Only about Earth," was the reply from Zach, who was still facing the other way.  
"How did you stay so strong?" asked Jexxel. "And, how did you hide it for so long?"  
"No one needed to know about the true me Jexxel," replied Neeran. "Not even my family."  
"But, why and how did Zach and Shakkuri know?" asked Chopper.

"I'd have gone even more insane without someone knowing," replied Neeran really wanting to end the convesation. "Luckily, Zach had been there when it happened and, after an accident in the beginning of the Ryloth campaign, Zach and I told Shakkuri. However, when the secret nearly got Shakkuri killed, we all agreed to keep it between ourselves and not tell anyone again."

Neeran then chuckled to herself and stood up whilst turning back to face the hyperspace before the ship, adding, "Seems we kinda failed at that last one though."

After a moment, Neeran left the cockpit saying, "I need to meditate for a while."


	38. Confessions.

"Anika?" asked Zach as he hesitantly peered into Neeran's room in their home.  
He heard Neeran exhale deeply before saying, "What do you want?"  
"To apologise."

"I'm not sure you can," replied Neeran, standing up and facing him. "You practically destroyed all the trust I had left in you with both this incident and the one with Ezra on Jex all those years ago that you never told me about until long afterwards."

"I'm sorry about that incident with Ezra on Jex and about earlier, it just came out," explained Zach. "Ezra wanted to go rescue you from the Imperials and I wanted to try and convince him not to but he ran away with everyone else."

"Ezra on Jex," said Neeran. "You knew about him for years. You knew about him and you didn't tell me so that I could save him from those tortures he had to endure. It almost makes me wonder who is more of a monster between the two of us."  
"I know I should have told you but something was stopping me from telling you," said Zach. "I don't know what but it felt-"  
"Shakkuri."

Zach stopped trying to explain to Neeran his reason. She hadn't called him that in over 1,500 years.

"You remember, don't you?" said Neeran, a trace of remembrance from times gone by in her voice. "It was the name you adopted back then. I became Neeran from Anika and you became Shakkuri from Zach. And then you re-adopted your birth name after the Battle of Ruusan. Do you remember why?"

"Yes," replied Zach, handing his head slightly. "Yes I do. Because of that Battle at Ruusan, when that Battalion died. There names were to be lost forever, just as our original ones had been in the course of history."  
"That's right," replied Neeran nodding. "And that's why I'm going to tell them." 

"Anika," asked Zach. "Are you sure you should tell them? You remember what happened last time we did that, don't you?"  
"Yes," replied Neeran, pushing past him and leaving the room. "They all need to know now.

"Neeran, are you okay?" asked Mira, once Neeran had arrived at the common room.  
"I've been better," replied Neeran truthfully, glancing over her shoulder at Zach. "Having your trust betrayed quite frequently does tend to leave a mark."

The eleven kids and six adults in the room had noticed the exchange between Neeran and Zach.  
"Neeran? What's wrong?" asked Ezra walking over to her.  
Neeran looked down at Ezra and a memory from when she'd first met him crossed her mind.

...Walking over to the boy Neeran asked, "You know, you never told me your name kid, so what is it?"  
The boy gave her a stunned look.  
"N-No one's ever asked me that before," replied the boy, sheepishly running his fingers across the ribbon on the blankets and looking at the floor.  
"Well, let me be the first," replied Neeran, taking a seat beside the bed, grabbing a tool sitting on the bench and working on the manacle locks.  
The boy was silent as Neeran worked the locks. After removing the manacles on his wrists, the boy said quietly, "My name is Ezra."  
Neeran stopped working on the locks for a moment as she listened to the boy named Ezra. After a moment's hesitation, Neeran went back to the locks. The locks finally clicked and Neeran picked up the manacles, stood up and put them in a nearby cupboard.  
"What's your name?" asked Ezra from the bed.  
Neeran halted for a moment, Ezra's voice causing Neeran to feel as though he should know her real name.  
Walking back, Neeran sat down beside the bed, looked at Ezra and said,  
"I've been called and known by many names, but no one's asked me my true name in a long time either. My real name is Neeran, Ezra."   
Ezra seemed a bit taken aback by Neeran's reply, probably because he'd expected a different answer.  
"What do I call you then?" asked Ezra.  
"Just Neeran," replied Neeran. "Unless told otherwise."

"I should tell you my real past," sighed Neeran. "You did ask me back when we first met and I didn't tell you the whole truth."

Everyone gathered around Neeran as she sat down on the couch with Zach on the back rest, to listen to her potentially long story.

"My story begins when I was 13 years old on the planet Earth, nearly 26,000 years ago..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Story continues in SWRC Book 2: Hidden Pasts!


End file.
